If you need a new or, perhaps, a first reason to detest Wal-Mart, consider this.
Wal-Mart will require its suppliers to calculate the environmental impact of their products, according to a report in Greenwire (July 15).
According to the report,
“I envision the day that you look at a piece of apparel, you flip a tag over, and learn about how sustainable it really is,” said John Fleming, Wal-Mart’s chief merchandising officer. The tags would work similarly to nutritional labeling today, though some standardization needs to take place, he said.
Interesting… since the greens don’t think that modern agriculture (cotton and wool) or the chemical and petroleum industries (synthetic fibers) are sustainable, what exactly will Wal-Mart apparel be made of?
Last year, former Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott told a Wall Street Journal conference audience that the company didn’t have any scientists and didn’t know anything about science — yet Wal-Mart will now start harassing suppliers over, and deceiving customers with the dubious concept of “sustainability.”
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers — go to Target.
Fleming should be confronted with the question of how one defines “sustainability” in terms that can be used for making supply chain decisions.