Wal-mart | Glamorous Green

Posts Tagged ‘Wal-mart’

Ship it to Me Green

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Most often when people think of eco-friendly products, they think about what a certain product is made of. This is one of the elements, but there are many more. A product that is manufactured locally, and contains 75% eco-friendly materials should be considered more “green” than an item of the same size containing 100% eco-friendly materials that is shipped from China fully assembled.

According to treehugger.com , a green product is one “that is both environmentally and socially responsible.” Here are some criteria they give to determine an items’ “green-ness”:

Demonstrate care for the people who make, supply and use the product
Demonstrate care for the ecological community in manufacturing
Use materials which are reused, recycled, renewable or organic
Products that address the use of energy in their production.Could the energy saved by their use be greater than the energy it took to create the item?
Serve a useful purpose
Use materials that can be recycled or are biodegradable.

I’m seeing more and more businesses implement or continue the green practices that make products more appealing to those that care about the environment.

Our firm loves Ikea. The fact that Ikea flat-packs their furniture means that costs are reduced because more of that item can be shipped to the store at one time. Also, consumers are able to order most items online. This means than rather than making a trip to the physical store, the items can be shipped directly to the home from the place of manufacture.If you do have to make a trip, the flat-pack concept allows a few rooms of furniture to fit inside your back seat! One trip!

In other news, Wal-Mart is attempting some of its own packaging improvements. They have reshaped their milk cartons to be taller and rectangular-shaped for greater efficiency in shipping, which keeps consumer costs down about 20 cents a gallon. The new shape allows cartons to be stacked on top of one another, rather than packaged with lots of material separating rows of cartons. While some consumers love the new body shape, some are not so amused. Jo from Ohio said, “It is an utterly stupid design. You can’t use a paper towel, water and wipe it up every time you pour milk. They would need to give away a mini roll of paper towels or wet wipes to wipe up the old stinking milk on counters, coffer cups, bowls…. How green is the new design if we are wasting paper towels and running water after every use?” Hmmm, something to think about. A nice attempt though, I think.

Tags: eco-friendly, green product, Materials, Wal-mart
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And Walmart Joins the Party

Monday, April 28th, 2008

Unless you lived under a rock, you know replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs helps to save energy. Now Walmart has jumped on board with this helpful tip and a few others in their latest TV campaign. It’s a major turn in events when you think about 200 million buyers doing all these small things and how they add up to making a BIG GREEN difference. Learn More.

How about this one? I’ve heard it said many times that cows are the biggest culprits in the global warming arena. Apparently all the grass they eat makes them pretty gassy and the methane they emit is warming up the environment. Plus, it takes 11 pounds of grain (grass) to produce 1 pound of beef. Walmart suggests drinking soymilk instead. Learn More.

When I last visited my health conscious, socially responsible, psychologist for blind kids in the Bronx sister, she was cleaning her sink with bleach. This is the place where the bottles of her infant son and sippy cups of my 3 year old niece are washed. I reminded her that chlorine bleach is linked to breast cancer in addition to be just plain awful for the earth when the drain eventually dumps into an ocean or a river. She reminded me that she needed to “sterilize” the area so her kids wouldn’t get germs. Ever hear of super germs? I’ve located their birthplace. Thankfully Walmart is now offering a solution for overly paranoid germaphobes. FYI… I use vinegar, lemon and water in a spray bottle, it works pretty well. Learn More.

I drink coffee, lots of coffee. Walmart says if I drink Rainforest Alliance Certified I can help to save 135,000 acres of land. This is because it’s sustainably harvested and you can feel good about knowing people are getting fair (relative) wages for their crops. Learn More.

Finally, one of my biggest pet peeves is American people who drink bottled water, especially Los Angelenos. There was a recent taste test that showed we have some of the best tasting water in the nation. We live in a first world country, it’s ok to drink the water from the faucet. Remember we all did it in elementary all the way to college- from the fountains. We’re all still alive. If you don’t like the taste, it’s easy to add a lemon slice or buy a filter. I get a kick out of the people who won’t drink from the tap at my house, but will drink a Star Bucks, Coke from a soda fountain or iced tea in a restaurant. Uh, what do you think they made those drinks with- bottled water? Nope, it’s tap tap tap! And the same people sit there drinking the water a waiter brings to their table- hello this is tap too and so is the ice! And what about the organic pasta you bought from Whole Foods? You filled the pot with tap water before you boiled it, right? The newly plump pasta is chock full of TAP WATER and then you eat it and live! Bottled water is just ridiculous. Walmart’s pushing a filter, buy it and stop the insanity (and expense) of the bottled water. Learn More.

I admit even I have to buy a bottle of water sometimes. I recently blogged about what to do with the empty bottles. Here’s another ”feel good” solution. Walmart is offering shirts made of recycled bottles. This is cool on a few levels. First, the more people see them, the more they think about recycling and doing their part. Second, the tees are aimed at teens, so we have a new generation being brought up with green values. And finally it’s a tangible product to actually see how the second life of the water bottle (you shouldn’t be buying) is serving a better purpose than being a resident in trash dump. Learn More. Unfortunately Walmart is still manufacturing all this stuff in China which is creating so much pollution that it offsets every action we make toward sustainability. They’ve taken the first step in promoting green products. Let’s hope they will carry on and do something about the bigger problem.

Tags: Wal-mart
Posted in Green Living, Materials | No Comments »

[LORI DENNIS INTERIOR DESIGN]

Lori Dennis formed Lori Dennis Interior Design, specializing in green interior design, in 1998. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Coastal Living, Southern Accents, Woman's Day, Los Angeles Times, Apartment Therapy and countless other magazines, books and websites throughout the world. [more..]

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