WalMart’s CEO: We Are Not Green

It’s almost impossible to avoid hearing the words Wal-Mart and green together these days. The corporation has made significant green strides over the past few years with President and CEO Lee Scott Jr. at the helm. But at the recent ECO:nomics Conference in California the leader of the mega-retailer’s green turnaround made it clear that the waste reducing, energy conserving steps taken by Wal-Mart are business decisions.

“We are not green,” he told conference attendees.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Scott spoke about Wal-Mart’s efforts to reduce, cardboard, packaging and the amount of plastic in bottled water. However…

The impetus for the company in doing all this isn’t just to please environmentalists, he said, but more to save money.“ It really is about how you take cost out, which is waste,” he said. The savings by taking out wasted material helps keep prices low for Wal-Mart’s customers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck. Indeed, Mr. Scott – in remarks to reporters after his talk – said the current economic slump is prodding Wal-Mart even more to undertake its waste-reduction program. “When is a better time?,” he said. – WSJ

Read the full article and see video of Scott at ECO:nomics here.