It’s easy to cast stones at America’s big box retailers and massive restaurant chains. Then again, maybe not so easy? Take a deep breath and a wake-up moment to realize that some of the biggest are not only trying but actually doing some good in the world.
Here’s a list of recent “good” moves from five of the biggest of the big guys:
WALMART HELPS WOMEN IN INDIA
The biggest of big-box stores just this month launched an initiative with CARE aimed at raising more than 750 women in southern India out of poverty. Going into regions known for cashew farming, Walmart’s program (part of a $1-million grant to CARE) will establish three cashew-processing units with channels to the worldwide marketplace, entirely owned and managed by local women. The program is also expected to establish literacy centers for the women and their daughters, and other programs aimed at improving self-sufficiency.
STARBUCKS BUILDS GREEN
Tomorrow’s Barista’s will pump out the latte’s in refreshingly earth-friendly new digs, as the coffee company presses forward with plans to make 100-percent of all new company-owned stores worldwide LEED Certified by the end of 2010. (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.) The new focus is expected to cut construction waste in half, and reduce energy use from lighting in each store by 35 percent (with the help of LED lighting).
McDONALD’S ARCHES EARN THEIR GOLD
The Golden Arches have made strides toward sustainability worldwide in recent years—recycling used fryolator oil in Brazil, Chile and Argentina to produce more than a million liters of biodiesel fuel, for instance. But the company earned it’s first Gold LEED Certification at an experimental Chicago store in April, and is pledging to use lessons learned from that site to implement green changes into all of their buildings going forward.
HOME DEPOT MAKES $30-MILLION PLEDGE
The big box home improvement center recently pledged $30 million over the next five years to help Habitat For Humanity International build environmentally friendly affordable housing. More than 100 Habitat affiliates across the U.S. will be granted $3,000 cash for each home they build to Energy Star standards, and up to $5,000 for each home that goes above and beyond that green benchmark. Through the program, nearly 1,500 sustainable homes are expected be built in 2009 and 2010 alone.
BEST BUY RECYCLES!
They’re not only good for filling your living room with the biggest TV you ever saw. Best Buy rolled out an electronics recycling program in 100-percent of their stores in 2009, helping to keep more than 14,000 tons of old cell phones, laptops and clunky old televisions from winding up in landfills (according to Best Buy’s own report).
And, an added bonus, a video from Starbucks on their effort:
