Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced an enormous change in its liquid detergent stocking policies recently, asserting that by May 2008, the company will stock its U.S. shelves with only concentrated versions of liquid laundry detergent as an effort to save water, plastic and cardboard. The Web site, MarketWatch’s analysis indicated that it was “a move that could radically change the strategies of manufacturers.”

Wal-Mart estimates that the move will save 400 million gallons of water in the production process, 95 million pounds of plastic resin, 125 million pounds of cardboard and conserve 520,000 gallons of diesel fuel over the next three years. The fact is that the detergent manufacturers had already begun producing the concentrated products and Wal-Mart decided to take full advantage of that trend as part of its much wider green initiative.

Nevertheless, the implications of an announcement like this are enormous and far reaching because when the largest U.S. Corporation begins to think in these important ways – limiting unnecessary water consumption, and limiting the use of non-biodegradable- or slow to degrade packaging, which is a major issue in landfills, the marketplace is bound to sit up and take notice.

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