Press Release – Wal-Mart Attempts to Reduce Plastic Bag Waste

25 09 2008

From a Press Release –

Wal-Mart Sets Goal to Reduce its Global Plastic Shopping Bag Waste by One-Third
Retailer’s effort could eliminate plastic waste equivalent to 9 billion plastic bags

New York, N.Y., Sept. 25, 2008 – Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) today committed to reduce its global plastic shopping bag waste by an average of 33 percent per store by 2013. This is expected to eliminate more than 135 million pounds of plastic waste globally. To help reach this goal, Wal-Mart will reduce the number of bags given out by its stores, encourage the use of reusable bags and give customers the ability to continue recycling plastic shopping bags. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.

“By reducing the number of plastic bags our customers use, increasing the availability and affordability of reusable bags and providing recycling solutions, we think we can eliminate plastic waste equivalent to 9 billion plastic bags per year from our existing stores alone,” said Matt Kistler, senior vice president for sustainability of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “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.” Read the rest of this entry »


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Save-A-Lot

18 08 2008
  • 3222 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48910
  • (517) 394-0396
  • Website
The Save-A-Lot store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Lansing.

The Save-A-Lot store on Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Lansing.

We moved to Lansing about five months ago and in that time, I’ve never really gone down Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.  Today, I needed to run to the Walgreens out that way, so I decided to drive around a little and check it out.  Usually, I go to the Walgreens on the corner of Jolly and Cedar, but they were having problems with their photo equipment.  I also needed to make a quick grocery store run to get a few things for dinner.  As I was leaving the parking lot of the Walgreens on MLK, I noticed the Save-A-Lot across the street.

I’ve never really been in a Save-A-Lot, so I didn’t know what to expect.  The only store in my old town was near a college, so I avoided it.  Today’s adventure is the first time I went in to shop.  The store is set up a lot like Aldi’s.  All the products are shipped in custom cartons that allow them to be product displays.  There’s not a whole lot of people stocking shelves.  They stores are also much smaller than most grocery stores.  The selection isn’t quite as big either.  There’s pretty much only one option for each product and there’s not a whole lot of sizes.  This is how they claim they can save you up to 40% on your grocery bill. Read the rest of this entry »


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Aldi – S. Pennsylvania

11 08 2008
  • 655 S. Pennsylvania
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • No Phone Number
  • Website
The Aldi store on South Pennsylvania in Lansing.

The Aldi store on South Pennsylvania in Lansing.

A few weeks ago, I decided to give Aldi a shot for the first time in many years.  I went to the store on Saginaw Highway (review HERE).  The only thing I picked up was a bag of frozen chicken.  We finally ran out of that chicken and I needed something for dinner, so I headed to the Aldi on S. Pennsylvania to pick up the same thing.  I said in my last review that chicken was a test.  It totally passed the test.  It was just as good as chicken we’ve gotten from somewhere else and it was much cheaper.

The Aldi on S. Pennsylvania is set up like all Aldi stores.  Since I was just going for chicken again, I didn’t grab a cart.  It took me a little while to find what I was looking for this time.  I went to the fresh meat case first hoping to find some ribs.  There wasn’t a whole lot left there.  Just a few pieces of chicken and some ground beef.  I didn’t find the ribs, so I went looking for the frozen chicken breasts.  I finally found the bag I was looking for after doing some digging in the freezer.  Someone had put some flavored frozen chicken breasts in the box for the regular ones. Read the rest of this entry »


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Target – Edgewood Blvd

1 08 2008
  • 500 E. Edgewood Blvd.
  • Lansing, MI 48911
  • (517) 882-9084
  • Website
The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

The Target store on Edgewood Boulevard in South Lansing

Target?!  A grocery store?!  I know, I thought the same thing, but recently, I find myself drifting over towards the grocery section everytime I end up in Target.  Like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, Target has taken on the role of a hyper-market with their Super Target stores.  However, none in the Lansing area fall into this category.  They’re all just Target stores.

The grocery section isn’t very big and takes up just a few aisles in the store.  Being small, they don’t have a wide variety.  They carry all the staples and they carry brand names, but they don’t often offer more than one brand of the same product.  In reality, you could do all of your grocery shopping at a Target store.  It may not be the most cost effective, but you don’t have to deal with the mile long aisles of Meijer or Wal-Mart.  Read the rest of this entry »


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L & L Food Center – Saginaw Hwy.

24 07 2008
  • 3800 W. Saginaw Hwy
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 321-4392
  • Website
L & L Food Center on West Saginaw Highway in Lansing.

L & L Food Center on West Saginaw Highway in Lansing.

When I visited the L & L Food Center in Holt a few weeks ago, the thing I noticed is that their meats are much cheaper than the other grocery stores.  After hitting the Farmer’s Market at the State Capitol, I needed to find some chicken to go with some of the things we bought.  We needed to go out near the Lansing Mall.  I rememered seeing an L & L on W. Saginaw, so that’s the one I hit up. 

The thing I noticed about this L & L is that it’s much brighter and much more inviting than the one in Holt.  The layout is pretty similar, but the aisle’s seemed much longer here.  Unlike the one in Holt, the frozen foods are at the end of the store instead of in the middle.  Read the rest of this entry »


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Aldi – Saginaw Hwy.

24 07 2008
  • 5625 W. Saginaw Hwy.
  • Lansing, MI 48906
  • (636) 278-4700
  • Website
Aldis on Saginaw Highway

Aldi's on Saginaw Highway

It has been years since I’ve been to an Aldi.  We didn’t shop there much when I was growing up because there was kind of a stigma to shopping at Aldi’s.  On top of that, it’s kind of a pain in the butt.  They don’t have the conviences of a modern mega-mart, but that’s how they keep prices down.  The stigma is gone now and more and more people are taking advantage of Aldi’s low prices.

The one thing I always use to go to Aldi’s for was their animal crackers.  I know that sounds stupid, but when I was in high school, my distrcit swtiched to the Eight-Block schedule.  Instead of a regular school day with eight 40 minute periods, we had four 80 minute periods each day with an every other day schedule.  Because of the schedule, there was always one group that would have three morning classes before lunch which means we didn’t get to eat much before one o’clock.  The teachers would let us bring snacks in and Aldi’s animal crackers were a big hit or some reason. Read the rest of this entry »


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Los Angeles May Ban Plastic Shopping Bags

23 07 2008

Usually, I would say I hate anything to do with California, but finally there’s a story from the west coast that doesn’t involve a sex tape and actually makes sense.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to ban plastic carryout bags in the city’s supermarkets and stores by July 2010 — but only if the state fails to impose a 25-cent fee on every shopper who requests them.“This is a major moment for our city, to bite the bullet and go with something that is more ecologically sensitive than what we’ve ever done before,” said Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents such coastal neighborhoods as Venice and Playa del Rey.

Council members said they hope an impending ban would spur consumers to begin carrying canvas or other reusable bags, reducing the amount of plastic that washes into the city’s storm drains and the ocean.

 

So, it’s not a ban yet, but it could be.  Even the $.25 tax on plastic shopping bags is a good idea.  We’ve got four reusable bags hanging by our door right now and I always feel bad when we go to Horrock’s and forget to grab them.  It happens more than I’d like, but at least at Horrock’s they have the option for paper. Read the rest of this entry »


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Orignal Meijer Superstore to be Replaced…

4 07 2008

…with the first new Meijer in Grand Rapids city limits in over a decade.

The Grand Rapids Press reports Friday that the store is scheduled to be replaced. Grand Rapids-based Meijer plans to keep the supercenter open while it builds a new store next to the existing site, with the new store opening in 2010.

The building began as a 17,000-square-foot grocery store in 1958. It became the retail chain’s first supercenter in 1962, adding 75,000 square feet to house non-grocery items.

That’ll be a piece of history being torn down.


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Wal-Mart – Delta Township

3 07 2008
  • 409 N. Marketplace Blvd.Walmart Delta Township
  • Lansing, MI 48917
  • (517) 622-8036
  • Website

Wal-Mart is evil….or so I’m told.  I know the arguments.  My dad’s a union  guy and my girlfriend’s parents are both union workers.  Her mom is a union grocer.  We’ve done really good about not running to Wal-Mart every other day like we did when we lived near Peoria, IL.  The problem there was there were only two grocery stores in town.  Both were chains (the other store being Kroger) and Wal-Mart was within walking distance of our apartment, so we shopped there out of convience more than anything.  We would still make special trips to Schnuck’s (a St. Louis-based chain) for produce, but the majority of our shopping was done at Wal-Mart.

The closest Wal-Mart to us now is in the Delta Township and it’s about a 10 minute (give or take a few) drive.  We made Wal-Mart a weekly stop right before we go to Horrock’s (review HERE), but not for any reason you might suspect.   Read the rest of this entry »


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Quality Dairy – Holt

1 07 2008
  • 2233 Cedar St.Quality Dairy
  • Holt, MI 48842
  • (517) 694-8653
  • Website

I got to admit.  I was shocked when I saw regular commentor Adam say Quality Dairy was on of the things he couldn’t live without.  Since moving here, I’ve drove by QD many times thinking they were just another 7-11.  When I asked why he couldn’t live with Quality Dairy, he replied the premium ice cream and baked goods baked fresh daily were the things he would miss the most. 

I had an ice cream craving and my excursion to L & L Food Center (review HERE) to get Moomer’s Ice Cream was a bust, so I went a little farther down Cedar to Quality Dairy.  My suspicion was correct.  Quality Dairy is a convience store very similar to 7-11.  They have booze.  They have pantry items.  Like 7-11, but different. 

Quality Dairy got it’s start in Lansing in 1936 as a place where people could buy milk.  At that point in time, milk was delivered in glass bottles.  Quality Dairy changed that delivery system by offering milk at small milk stores on a cash and carry basis.  Four years later, they expanded to ice cream which was the purpose of my visit. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Grocery, Holt, Ice Cream, Reviews

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