Environmental Sustainability

With an innovative new sustainable clothing line, PUMA continues its leadership on integrating sustainability throughout its supply chain, operations and product lines. This week, the sporting apparel company announced the upcoming release of a promised fashion line featuring both athletic wear and shoes that will be completely biodegradable and recyclable. The company has built upon on last year's rollout of the Re-Suede, a shout-out to its iconic 1970s sneaker that in its new iteration is made out of recycled materials.

Safeway has extended its corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment with a program that directly involves and rewards employees and shoppers for making eco-friendly purchases and doing healthier things for themselves and their communities. The "Heart of Safeway Pledge" is a personal call to action to take simple, everyday steps — e.g., using energy-conserving light bulbs, taking a 15-minute walk three times a week, eating healthier foods — that benefit pledge-takers and their communities, Safeway said in a statement.

Whole Foods Market is now offering more eco-friendly gift cards, eliminating plastic cards in lieu of two formats - one made of paper and the other of responsibly-harvested wood. These greener options will replace the natural and organic grocer's 100 percent recycled plastic cards, which will still be accepted but phased out over time. The new paper cards are 50 percent post-consumer waste. Both the paper and wood gift cards are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and have a lower carbon footprint, are reusable, recyclable, compostable and require less energy to be produced.

Apple's Cupertino headquarters may be just a few miles away from San Francisco, but the city won't be spending any more cash on the retailer's products. According to TheWall Street Journal, city agencies in San Francisco will no longer be able to purchase Apple products after the company asked the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) — the group that sets environmental standards for electronics — to remove all 39 of its products from the agency's green registry.

Kohl's will expand its solar program by nearly 25 percent this year, installing solar panels at approximately 30 additional stores. The department store retailer expects to have more than 150 solar locations across 13 states by the end of 2012. On average, the panels supply 20 percent to 50 percent of each store's energy requirements. "After adding 20 solar locations in 2011, we're pleased to continue growing our solar program in 2012," said Kohl's Chief Administrative Officer John Worthington in a statement. 

Kohl's said it will expand its solar program by nearly 25 percent in 2012, installing solar panels at approximately 30 additional locations. While some of the new solar sites will be in states such as California, Connecticut and Maryland where Kohl's already has a solar presence, additional sites will be located in new solar states for Kohl's, including Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. On average, the solar panels will supply 20 percent to 50 percent of each store's energy. Construction of the solar panel arrays on the first phase of stores began this spring.

Patagonia, a leading designer of outdoor, surf and sport-related apparel, announced the launch of its Vote the Environment campaign. The campaign asks customers to register to vote, learn about candidates’ environmental records and vote for the world they want to live in. Patagonia is one of the only for-profit businesses to engage in a public campaign that aims to sway its customers’ voting towards the most environmentally minded candidates.

OfficeMax has launched a new delivery program that reuses and recycles boxes for deliveries to business customers. The new program — Boomerang Box by OfficeMax — is projected to reduce box consumption by 80 percent among participating businesses. Boomerang Box by OfficeMax launches this month in Seattle, and will expand nationwide in the second half of 2012. Business participation in the program is free and voluntary for all customers nationwide that are served through OfficeMax's delivery fleet. The program is also designed for easy use to encourage widespread adoption.

Evian is sidestepping retail partners to sell its products directly to consumers with the promotion of a new online delivery service and the release of a new digital device it plans to make available widely in 2013. The device can be tacked onto a fridge and enables water delivery with the push of a single button. Initially, the website, called evianchezvous.com, is only available in Paris and its surrounding suburbs, the target being single-family homes and small businesses. The website will also permit delivery of other water products in the Danone family, such as Badoit or Volvic water.

Costco Wholesale Corp. has agreed to pay $3.6 million to settle a lawsuit filed by 29 district attorneys in California that alleged the retailer failed to properly store and dispose of hazardous materials at dozens of outlets in the state. According to the lawsuit, over a five-year period Costco employees didn't label or sort hazardous materials that had sat unsold on shelves or that customers had returned for long periods of time. This included such items as oven cleaner, bleach, pool chlorine and nicotine patches.