Walmart Goes Green(er) with Bio Plastic Containers

By | October 24th, 2005 4 Comments

walmartplastic.jpgWalmart’s grocery department will soon begin switching from petroleum based plastic clamshells to corn-based packaging. The potentially revolutionary news replaces an astonishing 114 Million plastic containers.
Despite my generally poor feelings about Walmart, I’m pretty impressed – the potential impact on the bio plastics imdustry is enormous, as if McDonalds suddenly went all-organic.
That said, high petroleum prices undoubtedly played as much a roll in their decision as anything else. Furthermore, as pointed out on Treehugger, bio-plastics are often derived from genetically modified crops, and I have also seen reports that some bio-plastics (ironically) use as much fossil fuel as regular plastic due to the use of petroleum based fertilizers. But why look a gift horse in the mouth? Bravo Walmart. (via Treehugger)

4 Comments

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  • Jack

    Who will supply Wal Mart? will it be start-up Cereplast in Elsugundo Ca. ?

  • James Rubenol

    Are there any studies as to what chemicals are released when mass amounts of bio-plastic decomposes? In terms of crude oil, I read that plastic only constitutes .002% of the overall consumption of oil in the US, hardly anything to brag about…Does this mean that we’ll be able to stop massively subsidizing our farming industry because now they’ll have a product that we’ll be heavily dependent on? Does bacteria grow more or less on bio-plastic than on regular plastic? I’m interested in the answers

  • David

    I work for a bioplastic company as a product development assistant, and walmart is looking at several companies for suppliers. having just one companie would be impossible for any company to deliver the sizes shapes and types of plastic contaners needed. And as an after thought, Walmart is Interested in PLA bio plastic, Which is made up of the lactid acid from corn.

  • http://ensobottles.com Max

    Plastic bottles are a growing problem in our landfills and oceans. We felt that something needed to be done……and now.
    We knew that there wasn’t going to be one “fix it all” answer and began to wonder if anything was ever going to be done. The problem was growing every day, more bottles were being manufactured and more bottles were accumulating in places where we didn’t need them.
    We were wondering if “Earth Friendly Bottles” would ever be available?
    That’s why decided to do our part and started ENSO Bottles. We are partnering with other companies to offer a PET plastic bottle that will biodegrade, compost or recycle.
    Our plastic bottles can enter the normal recycling stream with regular PET plastic bottles.
    ENSO’s goal is to achieve sustainability with our plastic bottles. WE feel that ENSO plastic bottles can provide a useful service and have a positive impact on our environment.
    We all need to do our part and support recycling programs, construction of bio-reactor landfills and continue developing technology that will make plastics “Earth Friendly.”
    We’re doing those things at ENSO, we offer a plastic bottle that is earth friendly…it’s just one step in the right direction. If we all take just one step toward improving our planet….we will make a difference.
    Max
    Ensobottles.com