Walmart Canada, Green Business Partners Provide Progress Reports on Sustainability Commitments

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Walmart Canada and some of Canada's largest corporations including Heinz Canada, Frito-Lay Canada, and Coca-Cola Canada have provided progress reports on their sustainability initiatives that they committed to six months ago at the Walmart Canada Green Business Summit.

 Each of the Canadian companies was asked to commit to launching a major sustainability project in Canada that focused on waste, energy, water or sustainable products and services.

The latest updates are available at the ShareGreen.ca Website, home to case studies/progress updates of partner companies that demonstrate their sustainable business initiatives that also deliver to the bottom line.

As an example, the Walmart Canada commitment update shows that the retailer set several sustainable seafood goals: to source wild-caught fresh and frozen fish certified to the Marine Stewardship Council standard, or minimum equivalent, by 2013, and to ensure that its farm-raised fish vendor-partners adhere to Best Aquaculture Practices, or minimum equivalent, by 2013. The retailer also committed to source all canned tuna from an International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) member by 2013

The retailer has implemented several strategies to meet its goals. These include assessing its current seafood assortment, continuing to source seafood from sustainable sources, working to find new suppliers of sustainable seafood, and de-listing fish products and suppliers, which refuse to improve the environmental performance of their operations.

Walmart Canada is also working with vendor-partners to improve seafood product labeling, and to ensure they are sourcing environmentally responsible seafood. The retailer says it will work with suppliers that are willing to improve the environmental performance of their operations.

The retailer is also working with various environmental non-governmental organization stakeholders to ensure that its actions have a positive impact on the sustainability of seafood around the world, and retail associations in Canada to determine if the retailer community can make positive changes in the Canadian seafood industry.

Walmart Canada says it is not buying seafood caught from illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) sources or knowingly sourcing seafood from ships currently on any official IUU vessel list. It also does not purchase Atlantic bluefin tuna.

Here is a list of companies that have made commitments as part of the Sustainability Challenge:

-- 3M Canada

-- Bissell Inc.

-- Canadian Tire Corporation

-- Coca-Cola Canada

-- Frito-Lay Canada

-- Greenomics Corporation

-- Hallmark Canada

-- Hewlett-Packard (Canada)

-- H.J. Heinz Company

-- Home Depot Canada

-- Kraft Canada Inc.

-- Kruger Products Ltd

-- Maple Leaf Foods

-- McDonalds Canada

-- Naya Water

-- Nature’s Path Foods

-- Nature’s Grilling Products

-- Projecting Change Film Festival

-- Richelieu

-- SC Johnson and Sons

-- Staples Canada Inc

-- Spin Master Inc

-- Unilever Canada Inc

-- Walmart Canada

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