Wal-Mart bringing customers in to the sustainability conversation

Here is a link to an April 2 post about sustainability from Wal-Mart's "Check Out" blog. The post, written by Rand Waddoups. Here is what he said:

If I may, I wanted to ask you for a favor…you see, we at Wal-Mart are trying something new right now. Over the past 3 years we have worked to build dialogue about sustainability between Wal-Mart and a large number of groups. NGO’s, governments around the world, academics, suppliers to Wal-Mart, our own people, and more have been included. It is our hope now to begin bringing our customers into the conversation.

In stores and in the media right now there are a number of messages being shared; all with a common theme…small changes in how you purchase make a big difference when you are a part of 200 million customers. Without being preachy or overbearing, we hope to share with our customers this month some of the products that we have learned about. These products aren’t perfect, but they have taken a step toward becoming better for the earth and for society; and some of their stories are tremendous.

Take note of new products like Sam’s Choice Coffee which is fair trade certified, rainforest alliance certified, or organic at a substantial value; or the new mulch made out of recycled tires; or the t-shirts made from transitional cotton. For those of you who don’t know, it takes 3 years for a farmers field to transition to being certified organic. During that time, the farmer treats the cotton field the same way he/she would an organic field, but gets no premium for the cotton. This is a burden on the farmer that creates disincentives to moving to organic. I am proud of our apparel team’s commitment to helping these farmers, such that Wal-Mart is now the largest single purchaser of transitional cotton.

Now, the favor…I hope you’ll go stop by your local Wal-Mart, keep an eye out for the ads, and let me know what you think. I would love your opinion.

Reader comments below:

Frances said this:

I saw the commercial about the CFLs last night, and I thought it was wonderful. It's mind-boggling to me to hear the actual impact of every person making even one small change. EVERYBODY can take baby steps - because one leads to another, and pretty soon, sustainablity can just be a natural way of life for us all!

I actually sent a comment to WM through the main website a few weeks ago after I found BioBag brand biodegradeable trash bags in my local WM. I'd been ordering those online, and was tickled to see them in my store! I got a nice reply quickly, btw.

Now, if I can just find a Wii in my store...I'm dying to try out the WiiFit next month!!

Jane said this:

I think it's wonderful and it's made me less ashamed of shopping at Walmart. My friends are, by and large, well-heeled lefties and they have nothing good to say about Walmart. This new campaign may help. Keep it up!

TK: The post emphasized not being "preachy" or "overbearing" as Wal-Mart pursues sustainability. That is the fine line Wal-Mart walks - investing in initiatives that may or may not spark individual consumer interest or buy in. Can one store brand - even if that brand is Wal-Mart - make sustainability a buy-in for all the stratas of their consumers. It will be an uphill climb, if those oft-advertised always low prices don't follow the sustainability initiatives. We will follow with interest W-M's ad campaign.