Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has said that it aims to reduce its global plastic bag waste by one-third by 2013.
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Wal-Mart said yesterday (25 September) that it intends to reduce the number of plastic bags used at its US stores by 25% and at overseas outlets by 50%. This is the equivalent of removing 9bn plastic bags from its stores each year and eliminating more than 135m pounds of plastic waste globally in the next three years.
If successful, Wal-Mart could reduce its energy consumption by approximately 678,000 barrels of oil per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 290,000 metric tons per year – equivalent to taking more than 53,000 passenger vehicles off the road.
“If we can encourage consumers to change their behaviour, just one bag at a time, we believe real progress can be made toward our goal of creating zero waste,” said Matt Kistler, SVP for sustainability at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart said that it will encourage the use of reusable bags and provide customers with facilities to recycle plastic bags.
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By GlobalData“By reducing the number of plastic bags our customers use, increasing the availability and affordability of reusable bags and providing recycling solutions, we think we can eliminate plastic waste equivalent to 9bn plastic bags per year from our existing stores alone,” Kistler said.
