• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Wal-Mart Wins 2005 Waste News Environmental Award

Posted on: Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 15:00 CST

Waste News, a leading news source about waste and environmental management, has named Wal-Mart the winner of the 2005 Waste News Environmental Award.

"We chose Wal-Mart for this award because, in our judgment, it has made the most significant environmental progress of any business in 2005," stated Waste News editor Allan Gerlat.

Some of the environmental initiatives that Wal-Mart launched this year include:

-- A plastic pilot recycling project which bundles together shopping bags, film and shrink-wrap and ships them to end users like plastic lumber makers.

-- Two green supercenters in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colorado, that house multiple environmental experiments that utilize alternative forms of energy and conserve resources.

-- A plan to reduce the retailer's waste generation by 25 percent in the next three years; to invest $500 million annually in technologies to reduce greenhouse gases; and to increase its trucking fleet's fuel efficiency by 25 percent in the next three years.

"While some companies like Wal-Mart have taken dramatic steps to recognize how sound environmental management can enhance their business model, not everyone has seen the light," Waste News vice president/publisher Glen Stout said. "We hope an award like ours will bring more attention to sustainable business and cause companies and governments to see if investing in green business practices makes sense for them too."

This is the first year Waste News has offered the Environmental Award. The Waste News editorial staff considered more than 50 nominations and some internally identified companies, before choosing Wal-Mart.

The 2005 Waste News Environmental Award was presented to Wal-Mart during a luncheon at the 2005 Byproducts Beneficial Use Summit in Philadelphia on November 30th. The Summit is co-sponsored annually by Waste News and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

A full story on Wal-Mart will be featured in the December 5, 2005 issue of Waste News.

Waste News, a Crain Communications Inc. biweekly publication, is based in Akron, Ohio. It is the only industry newspaper that reports on all aspects of solid and hazardous waste management as well as air and water pollution, including businesses and organizations that generate waste and the recycling, disposal, collection, transportation and processing of waste. The Waste News website is www.wastenews.com

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category