LadyMaverick’s Recent Comments

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  Companies like WalMart

  For those of you who are not fans of WalMart, it may interest you to know that they have just been conned in regards to their new "Green" packaging that is using PLA instead of polyethylene. Firstly, in the manufacture of PLA, more greenhouse gases are given off than in the case of regular polyethylene.(See "How Green Are Green Plastics", Scientific America, August 2000.)Secondly,those new "biodegradable" containers that they are starting to use are not biodegradable. They are compostable. The only way that PLA/NatureWorks containers will degrade is if they are put into a municipal compost pile. How many people recycle their containers into a compost pile? I would venture to guess none.Municipal compost piles are generally used for household scraps and yard waste. So all those containers will end up in the landfill and last as long as regular plastic containers- around 400 years. So the idea that these containers are a help to the environment is not true.The kicker is that they will cost WalMart more than the regular plastic containers.Sounds like WalMart did not do its homework.On The ebb and flow of corporate eco-consciousness posted 4 years ago 3 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Companies like WalMart

  For those of you who are not fans of WalMart, it may interest you to know that they have just been conned in regards to their new "Green" packaging that is using PLA instead of polyethylene. Firstly, in the manufacture of PLA, more greenhouse gases are given off than in the case of regular polyethylene.(See "How Green Are Green Plastics", Scientific America, August 2000.)Secondly,those new "biodegradable" containers that they are starting to use are not biodegradable. They are compostable. The only way that PLA/NatureWorks containers will degrade is if they are put into a municipal compost pile. How many people recycle their containers into a compost pile? I would venture to guess none.Municipal compost piles are generally used for household scraps and yard waste. So all those containers will end up in the landfill and last as long as regular plastic containers- around 400 years. So the idea that these containers are a help to the environment is not true.The kicker is that they will cost WalMart more than the regular plastic containers.Sounds like WalMart did not do its homework.On Two books explore the perks and perils of corporate social responsibility posted 4 years ago 3 Responses