Wal-Mart pushes green DVDs in April

APRIL 2 | One may expect Al Gore to be on the forefront of Wal-Mart’s efforts toward environmental sustainability—Gene Simmons is another story.

As part of Wal-Mart’s “Earth Month” campaign for April, the company is promoting more than 120 CDs and DVDs, ranging from the Al Gore environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth to, yes, The Very Best of KISS.

The world’s largest retailer, which last month opened a store prototype that uses about half the energy as other stores, continues its ecological efforts as consumer interest in such corporate policies surges, according to a Nielsen survey.

Compact discs promoted by Wal-Mart this month “feature eco-friendly packaging that is 100% recyclable and biodegradable,” Wal-Mart spokesman Ravi Jariwala said. Some of the CDs include MP3 downloads coupons that are made from seed paper that can be planted, Jariwala said.

In November 2006, Wal-Mart said it would begin grading suppliers’ packaging methods with a scorecard measuring aspects such as what percentage of the package is filled by the product and how much carbon dioxide is created per ton of production. The company, which accounts for about half of U.S. DVD sales, said it aimed to cut packaging by 5% by 2013 and estimated that the decrease would cut carbon dioxide emissions by 667,000 tons a year.

An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 film documenting former U.S. Vice President Gore’s campaign to publicize global warming, has helped boost ecological interest among the public, whose Internet discussions about environmental sustainability jumped 50% last year, according to Nielsen. Much of the Internet blogging has involved the criticism of so-called “greenwashing,” in which companies use public-relations campaigns to exaggerate their environmental efforts.

“When it comes to the environment, consumers are insisting on both transparency and consistency from the corporations they patronize,” said Jessica Hogue, research director for Nielsen Online. “Consumer support depends on action as well as perceived sincerity and commitment.”

Last month, Wal-Mart opened a Las Vegas store that uses 45% less energy than a typical Superstore. The company plans to design a replicable prototype by next year that will use as much as 30% less energy than the average store.