Attention Walmart Shoppers...

Living in a small town with 2 options for one-stop-shopping for groceries and other amenities: Kroger and Walmart, can be quite limiting on the green scale. However, it seems to me that Walmart is leading the charge for affordable green cleaning products.

Many folks in the USA are pinching their pennies so tightly that their thumbs are turning white. As you may have noticed, green products are often not the cheapest. Last Spring, the Walmart in Oxford, MS began carrying many more varieties of green cleaning products. As of yesterday, all most ALL of the green cleaning products are on sale. I'm not sure if they are being discontinued, but one of the price tags said, "deleted." In any case, get your cheap green cleaners at Walmart today before they're all sold!

*Note - I do not know how green these products are in reality, but many of the claims on the lables say non-toxic, not tested on animals, bottle made of recycled plastic. It's not Shaklee but it's as good as it gets for those of us who are trying to save money, our personal health, and the health of the oceans, lands and inhabitants around us. Brands on sale include: Palmolive's Pure & Clear, Simplicity's Hypoallergenic Non-toxic Certified Biodegradable (certified by whom? it doesn't say) and Clorox's Greenworks brand.

Ivory's Ultra Pure-Pur is not on sale. The brands that are on sale are all marked down to $2.00 each and they seem to be selling quickly. As you can see, the shelf below is empty. I sincerely hope that Walmart continues to carry these products. But it may be the case that they are being discontinued.

I was so impressed last Spring when I saw a commercial that Walmart was carrying a new brand of t-shirts made from recycled plastic bottles. Coca-Cola partnered with Wal-Mart to support the mass retailer’s Earth Month program designed to highlight products in-store that can help consumers live a more sustainable lifestyle.

When I found the time to go to Walmart and see these t-shirts, I was sort of appalled by the slogans and designs. The new line of t-shirts,"Drink 2 Wear", was displayed in the standard giant cardboard shelf display running down the center of an aisle, near the shoes and children's clothing. One t-shirt said something like, "6 bottles of coke and all I got was this t-shirt," or "Save the Humans" with an image of a whale spouting a rainbow. One t-shirt actually favored Paris Hilton by saying, "Recycling is Hot". I've looked online and apparently there were other less idiotic slogans along the lines of, "Make Your Plastic Fantastic" and "Rehash Your Trash". In any case, the fact that they would put the word, "hash" on any t-shirt for children sort of blows my mind.

Fast forward past Earthday month 2008 to October 1st:

Three standard four-sided cardboard display units still stocked with plently of recycled plastic t-shirts.

"Drink 2 Wear" t-shirts that were once $15, $10, and $8 are now all $5, whether they have short sleeves or long. A sign of the times? Or a sign that their marketing campaign needs a facelift in the slogan department? Or is it the general problem of Walmart having such a large quantity of merchandise that it always goes on sale? Let's hope that sustainably-made clothing is not just an Earthday fad.