Wal-Mart to cut global plastic bag waste by 33 pct

NEW YORK—Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to slash its global plastic shopping bag waste by 33 percent over the next five years, eliminating more than 135 million pounds of trash.

If the plan succeeds, the world's largest retailer would cut the equivalent of 9 billion plastic bags from stores each year.

The effort was announced Thursday at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York and includes a plan to encourage customers to use reusable shopping sacks -- including a line of bags that will be available in U.S. stores in October for 50 cents each -- while offering recycling services for the plastic bags already used by customers.

"If we can encourage consumers to change their behavior, just one bag at a time, we believe real progress can be made toward our goal of creating zero waste," Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for sustainability, said in a statement.

Environmentalists said if the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer is able to trim its plastic bag usage, the action would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 290,000 metric tons each year, roughly the equivalent of removing 53,000 cars from the road each year.

"Plastic bags clog our landfills, litter our roadways, harm sea turtles and other wildlife, and gobble energy in production," Gwen Ruta, vice president for corporate partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement.

Wal-Mart shares climbed $1.32, or 2.2 percent, to $60.24 in midday trading.