Sam’s Club in Brazil Introduces Reusable Bags for Wines / Sam’s Club lança sacolas retornáveis para vinhos
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009Watching Wal-Mart take steps to implement its pledge to reduce plastic shopping bag use (or “carry bags” as my British friends call it) in its Latin American stores by 50% by 2013 has been a fascinating study of applying marketing savvy to a corporate social responsibility commitment. They started by supplying low-cost cotton carry bags […]
Wal-Mart Brasil Provides Discounts for Not Using Plastic Bags
Saturday, November 29th, 2008Wal-Mart Brasil is pursuing an interesting strategy to achieve its announced target of a 50% reduction in plastic bag use in its 340 stores by 2013. It just launched a campaign in its nine Bompreço stores in the northeastern capitals of Recife, Pernambuco and Salvador, Bahia, whereby it gives an automatic discount to customers that […]
Wal-Mart’s Commitment to Reduce Plastic Bag Use in LAC
Friday, September 26th, 2008Perhaps you’ve heard of Wal-Mart’s commitment to reduce plastic shopping bag use (or “carry bags” as my British friends call it) in its US stores 25% and in its international stores by 50% by 2013. Some people are not impressed. I am — at least regarding the international commitment as it applies to Latin America […]
Are Biodegradable Plastic Bags Really Better?
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007In my rant last June about unnecessary plastic wrap being praised by Chile’s Environment Minister simply because it is “biodegradable,” I promised a guest post from an expert who can explain better than I can the debate over whether “biodegradable” plastic bags are really a substantial improvement over conventional plastic bags. I’m happy to publish […]
Tetra-Pak Chooses to Deal
Thursday, July 26th, 2007Synopsis in English: In May the environment officials of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná called in Tetra Pak officials and told them to come up with a proposal to solve the post-consumer waste problem in that state associated with their long-life (aseptic) packaging — or face drastic action by the government, such as banning […]
What’s Wrong with This Picture?
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007It’s the type of photo-op you probably see on environment ministry or agency websites around the world, especially as World Environment Day (05 June) approaches. The Environment Minister, praising some company or group or individual for doing something deemed environmentally-friendly, often followed by a representative of the company touting the measure as a sign of […]
The Need for Better Reef Protection, Part I: Why Should I Care?
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006Although my snorkeling experience is limited, and I’m only just now learning to scuba dive, and I have never worked on reef protection issues in my job, even I had some idea of the beauty and value of coral reefs and the pressures facing them. But in the process of preparing a blog series on […]