Wal-Mart looking to sell "sustainable electronics" to help Mother Earth

The same store who snubbed the idea of installing Wii kiosks in its stores and is probably installing Big Brother style monitoring systems as we speak is now looking to take a bigger stand in its fight to keep Mother Earth in good shape. Following the trend of downsized packaging (as in Apple's iPod, for instance) and recycling as much as humanly possible, Wal-Mart is now setting a goal to sell "sustainable electronics" as early as next year. While it's not entirely out of character for a mega-corporation to jump on the green bandwagon, Wally World has "released criteria that will be part of a scorecard used to evaluate consumer electronics suppliers on the environmental sustainability of their products," essentially forcing suppliers who want to keep their products on such hot shelves to rethink their approach to "minimizing impact on the environment." While we can't deny that those huge boxes are quite enjoyable to take home, compacting PC titles to simple jewel cases would be a long overdue start to minimizing the amount of waste just sitting around, and we're such Toshiba is getting a nice pat on the back for already helping the retailer out.

[Karl Viklund @ Mar 18th 2007 8:45AM]

GL with that...

[Wireless Buddy @ Mar 18th 2007 9:20AM]

I see Wal Mart losing a lot of revenue.

[Greg Zapp @ Mar 18th 2007 10:44AM]

In the scheme of things, this doesn't matter at all. As long as the rain forest are going to be completely axed, and they ARE going to be completely axed baring military intervention(which won't happen), these moves amount to nothing more than positive PR for the companies.

[vicvid01 @ Mar 18th 2007 10:47AM]

Its pretty cool that big companies are getting worry about mother earth and how to help, it might sound pretty stupid of me but if they don't step up we as single people we won't do shit!

[James Smith @ Mar 18th 2007 11:11AM]

So is Wal-Mart looking to help mother earth supposed to make up for the fact that it destroys communities where ever they build a Wal-Mart? They put local stores out-of-business and they pay their workers so little that it costs more to put the Wal-Mart employees on welfare and Medicaid than the income tax a local community gets in return from them, all the while Wal-Mart makes millions of dollars.

[Chuckles McGee @ Mar 18th 2007 11:16AM]

In the next scene, the store rips the tree out of the ground and devours it.

[Harvey @ Mar 18th 2007 12:08PM]

Anytime a corporation tries to go "Green," it's a good thing, no matter what the motivation.
Maybe Big Wally's decision will put pressure on some of our other favorite electronic retailers and manufacturers to follow suit.

[akijikan @ Mar 18th 2007 1:17PM]

I've always loved walmart. Low Prices, lots of stuff...but come on...this is rediculous. This = higher prices for consumers. Way to think with your head walmart...

[Helmeted Helmut @ Mar 18th 2007 3:18PM]

For those who are saying "I've always loved Walmart" -- you may want to take a look at this recent article about why Wal-Mart is, in many ways, a problem!

[Helmeted Helmut @ Mar 18th 2007 3:33PM]

Ah... sorry about not including the URL:

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/rosenfeld150307.html

[Bloobie @ Mar 18th 2007 3:33PM]

While I do not personally shop at Wal-Mart, it is good that they (being the world's largest retailer) have taken steps to push greater environmental responsibility onto their suppliers. Despite how much you may hate them, they do have an enormous amount of clout with their suppliers. After all, Wal-Mart does sell more of many specific products (games, movies, etc.) than any other retailer. Do you honestly think that a company would risk losing their largest buyer over packaging? No, they will simply comply. When Wal-Mart says that a game contains too much nudity, the game developer will edit it or risk not having their game sold at Wal-Mart, who sells more games than anyone else.
As for Apple's packaging, it is actually minimal compared to many other companies. Dinraj, last time I checked, my Nano, iMac, Mighty Mouse and wireless keyboard did not come in hard plastic packaging. They came in non-plastic boxes not much bigger than the products inside. The exception to this, I have found, is the iPod Shuffle.

[akijikan @ Mar 18th 2007 6:07PM]

lol, socialism.

[Tarek @ Mar 18th 2007 4:20PM]

Dinraj: If Apple can ship twice the iPods in the same space, that means it cuts the fuel needed to ship those iPods in half. Considering that a large portion of the ecological footprint of a product is in its transport, this is not an insignificant reduction.

akijikan: The lower fuel costs are exactly the same reason that this means cheaper prices. You think Wal-Mart is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? Nope. They operate their own trucking fleet, so any savings on shipping fuel feed directly into their bottom line, and to lower prices. Also, more products per foot of shelf space means less overhead per item, which translates to lower costs or increased profitability.

[GameboyRMH @ Mar 18th 2007 4:40PM]

Sssh! Don't point out the Apple worship on Engadget Dinraj! You'll get ranked down into the ground!

Oh...wait...crap :(

[GameboyRMH @ Mar 18th 2007 5:06PM]

Oh also on environmentally friendly packaging...I know Nintendo used 100% recycled cardboard for the GBC and GBA system packaging, I think for the DS as well. The GBC and GBA also came with a pair of "green" batteries (which actually lasted a very long time, unlike most of the other "green" batteries I've tried). The packaging was small and light with very little plastic. Also by making their products DURABLE (take notes Apple) and backwards compatible, they reduced the number of systems that were thrown out. In high school people always brought their busted electronics to me, the only troublesome Nintendo systems I ran across were a finnicky SNES and an original Game Boy with a faulty screen, and I saw the abuse Nintendo systems took all the time, and they're most definitely NOT fragile.

I'm not a Nintendo fanboy, but they make affordable, durable, innovative products and they treat their customers right, what's not to like?

[TheClashRocker @ Mar 18th 2007 7:43PM]

Now if they could just get rid of the sweatshops...

[directive0 @ Mar 19th 2007 1:26AM]

I wonder if theres any correlation between the size of packages and the amount of fossil fuel burned to transport them.

[Scooter @ Mar 19th 2007 1:10PM]

will this cut the use of blister packs?
Anyone remember the days when you could open a packet and fondle a product e.g. to check if it is actually what you want? What happened to weighing and buying screws by weight?
Instead now we have hard plastic, heat-sealed blister packs on racks with few staff in sight. The retailers seem to want you to march in, find the products yourself, grab a generic box, and pay. No inspection needed, no annoying fingerprints on the merchandise. And no discounts for merchandise that comes in bulk.
There is nothing here for consumers - just Walmart's bottom line and (dubious) reputation.

[telecomplc @ May 23rd 2007 7:02AM]

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