Walmart Zero Waste Program
Type of practice Reuse for feed, Recycle, Recover
Name of practice Walmart Zero Waste Program
Name of main actor Walmart
Type of actor(s) Company
Location United States of America
Stage of implementation End-of-life
Year of implementation 2010
What was/is being done? Walmart is working to eliminate the waste sent to the landfill by 2025 through a variety of initiatives. Walmart approached Quest Recycling Services for finding a solution for what to do with food waste produced in its 4,400 Walmart and Sam's Club stores and supercenters. Quest reached out to existing service providers to suggest they invest in the specialized trucks and bins needed to handle Walmart's organic food waste, which is typically wet, heavy and acidic. The companies haul away Walmart's food waste that is ineligible for donation to food banks through the Feeding America program. Most - about 60 percent - is destined to become compost. Another portion, roughly 28 percent, is directed toward animal feed, with the remaining waste being converted to electricity through anaerobic digestion.
Outcomes and impacts In 2010, Walmart gave more than 7,000 tons of meat renderings to animal rescue parks, supplied 17,000 tons of feed stock to animal feed producers and created nearly 1,500 megawatts of energy from organic waste. In the process, hundreds of green jobs have been created. In March 2011 Walmart announced that its zero waste strategy had cut more than 80 percent of the waste sent to landfills in California, due in part to the organic waste program co-developed by Quest Recycling Services.
Source(s) http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/03/24/walmart-zero-waste-program-boon-texas-recycler?page=0%2C1; http://www.walmartstores.com/Sustainability/9176.aspx
