Walmart Launches New Reusable Bag Campaign; Announces 93 Million Metric Tons of Supplier Emission Reductions
through Project Gigaton and Announces New Sustainable Textile Goals
Retailer will provide more convenient access to reusable bags for purchase at U.S. stores and continues to
make progress towards its goals to work with suppliers to avoid greenhouse gas emissions across global value chains
Today, at its 2019 sustainability milestone summit, Walmart announced that for the first time, checkout carousels at its U.S.
stores will include reusable bags that will be available to customers for purchase. The aim of this new campaign is to help reduce
plastic waste and increase customer convenience by placing reusable bags in easy to find and highly frequented sections of its
stores. As part of the launch, Walmart is rolling out a new assortment of reusable bags that are made with post-consumer recycled
content.
The new reusable bag initiative will begin rolling out to stores next month and follows a recent
announcement by Walmart on a series of plastic waste reduction goals that seek to advance the sustainability of the retailer’s
private brand packaging by making it 100 percent recyclable, reusable or industrially compostable by 2025.
This year’s milestone summit also featured announcements and updates on several other sustainability initiatives. For
example, the event marks the two-year anniversary of Project Gigaton, a platform in which Walmart is working with suppliers to
avoid 1 billion metric tons, a gigaton, of emissions from global value chains by 2030. As part of the summit, Walmart Canada
announced it is joining Project Gigaton, making it Walmart Inc.’s third international market to work with suppliers towards
emissions reductions.
In the first two years of Project Gigaton, many suppliers are already delivering results on their goals and report avoiding more
than 93 million metric tons of emissions toward the one gigaton goal. Emissions totals are calculated in accordance with
Walmart’s
Project Gigaton Accounting Methodology. In an effort to make it easier to enlist more suppliers to the growing total of
over 1,000 suppliers participating in the platform, Walmart also announced that it would publish its Project Gigaton Calculators,
which are designed by Walmart and NGOs for suppliers to use in reporting progress toward the Project Gigaton goal.
“We are encouraged by the engagement of our suppliers in Project Gigaton,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, senior vice president and
chief sustainability officer for Walmart Inc. “To achieve our ambitious climate goals, we aim to expand and deepen that engagement.
The progress to date shows how companies can contribute to climate action through practical actions all along the product supply
chain. Ultimately, building sustainable supply chains requires collective action from everyone – not only our associates and
suppliers, but customers, business in general, and civil society. We are excited to be part of the solution.”
Reinforcing Commitment to Sustainable Textiles
During the milestone summit, Walmart shared an update on its responsible sourcing work alongside NGOs, industry groups,
governments and suppliers, with the aspiration to improve the lives of workers in the global apparel supply chain with a particular
focus on women. Walmart also shared new sustainability goals for apparel and soft home textiles within Walmart U.S. stores,
including:
- Sourcing More Sustainable Fibers: Walmart will increase the use of recycled polyester fiber,
setting a goal of using 50% recycled content by 2025 and to source 100% more sustainable cotton.
- Reducing Manufacturing Impact: By 2022, Walmart U.S. stores will source apparel and home
textile products only from suppliers working with textile mills that use the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s Higg Index Facility
Environmental Module (FEM) to measure and help improve environmental performance. Walmart will also prioritize sustainable
chemistry, setting a goal to reduce the discharge of priority chemicals from the textile manufacturing process.
Progress in Electric Vehicle Charging Station Expansion, Renewable Energy Leadership
Walmart continues to make progress in its efforts to increase the availability of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at it
stores and clubs across the U.S. As of 2018, Walmart has EV chargers available at retail locations across 29 states.
Walmart also outlined its progress towards its aspirational goal of being powered by 100 percent renewable energy – and to power
50 percent of its operations with renewable energy by the end of 2025. Over the past year, Walmart completed contracts for 136 new
solar and wind projects, which will supply the company an additional estimated 2.14 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy
annually – the equivalent electricity usage of over 260,000 homes in a year.
To receive more information on Walmart’s sustainability efforts, please read more in the
Walmart Global Responsibility Report.
About Walmart
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better - anytime and anywhere - in retail stores,
online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, over 275 million customers and members visit our more than 11,300 stores under
58 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites. With fiscal year 2019 revenue of $514.4 billion, Walmart employs over 2.2
million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment
opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com,
on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart
and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.
Walmart Media Relations
Micah Ragland
1-800-331-0085
news.walmart.com/reporter
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