Walmart and Tide Campaign: Why Cold-Water Laundry is Best
Walmart has announced a joint campaign with Procter & Gamble’s Tide to encourage consumers to adopt cold water washing as a new eco-friendly standard.
The campaign is one of a number of sustainability initiatives launched or promoted on Earth Day by Walmart.
The multinational company says it is “always seeking opportunities to support supplier efforts to advance sustainability – especially when they help advance our purpose of helping people save money and live better”.
Why leave washing in the cold?
The joint campaign will highlight Tide's key benefits, including how washing laundry in cold water can help customers save up to US$150 a year on energy bills, while saving up to 90% of the energy used compared to hot water.
The collaboration will feature in-store demos and other opportunities to highlight the benefits of cold water washing.
The campaign also supports Tide's goal to turn 75% of laundry loads in North America to cold water washing by 2030, which would avoid 27 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Procter & Gamble says every load washed in cold saves enough electricity to power the average American home for over an hour.
Making sustainability affordable
Kathleen McLaughlin, Executive VP and CSO for Walmart Inc., who was recently placed at number one in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 100 Women in Sustainability, said: “This #EarthWeek, Walmart is highlighting how we're working to make more sustainable choices easier, affordable and accessible – such as Tide detergent, which helps get the dirt out without losing quality or texture of their clothes and helps them save money on energy.
“Or all the innovations our private brand teams are leading with suppliers on reducing plastic across categories.”
Walmart’s press release said: “We’re on a journey to make more sustainable choices second nature. That starts with making them easy, accessible and affordable for everyone.”
Every day is an Earth Day
Walmart added: “With 78% of consumers expressing that a more sustainable lifestyle is important to them, Walmart’s omnichannel platforms can play a key role.
“And that comes in lots of different ways: from product innovation and packaging solutions, advancing access to recycling in communities, plastic-bag-free InHome delivery services, expanding access to clean energy for communities or finding budget-friendly ways for customers and members to find smart, mindfully made products every day — not just on Earth Day.”
Much more in store
Walmart highlighted a number of other initiatives, including:
- Offering a selection of Energy Star products, all meeting strict energy-efficiency criteria set by the US Environmental Protection Agency
- Community solar investments across multiple communities, which, once operational, will help deliver savings on energy bills to thousands of households
- InHome shopping deliveries by a fleet of largely electric vans
- Private brand microwaves packaged without the usual Expanded Polystyrene packaging – eliminating an estimated 2,000 metric tons of plastic waste per year
- Snorkel sets sold in reusable travel/storage bags instead of plastic packaging.
The circularity of life
Walmart said: “By reusing or recycling materials like nylon or rubber into new products, the practice of circularity helps give weathered threads and treads new life while helping reduce waste.”
It is piloting a Take Back Bag scheme with Trashie, enabling customers to fill up the bag with unwanted items and send it to Trashie for potential reuse or recycling.
Walmart and Sam’s Club are also integrating circularity into their home and garden lines with rubber mulch made from recycled rubber.
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