Sustainability
At Walmart Canada, making sure our footprint on the planet is as light as possible is a responsibility we take very seriously. That’s why sustainability is a major part of our regeneration strategy. As we work to become a regenerative company – one that keeps nature and humanity at the centre of our business – we’re striving to not only preserve the environment, but to restore, renew and replenish it, and encourage others to do the same.
Latest Sustainability News
Climate Action
Emissions Reduction
Walmart is taking measurable steps toward emissions reduction and inviting our suppliers to join us on the journey. In 2019, Walmart Canada joined Walmart’s Project Gigaton, a global effort to remove a gigaton of emissions — the equivalent of 211 million passenger vehicles a year — from the global value chain by 2030. Walmart Canada also uses LED lights, helping to reduce our CO2 emissions, and we are striving to ensure that our fleet vehicles will be alternatively powered.
Renewable Energy
By 2035, we hope to use 100% renewable energy to power our operations.
Land and Water
Globally, Walmart has pledged to help protect and restore the world's forests, oceans and habitats. By 2025, we aim to source palm oil, pulp, paper and timber more sustainably and we're also working to protect, manage and restore at least 50 million acres of land and one million square miles of ocean by 2030.
Waste Reduction
Walmart Canada is committed to sending zero waste to landfill. It’s a bold goal, but we’re making measurable progress. Our waste diversion rate for 2022 was 89%, within shouting distance of the 90% defined as zero waste.
Food
At Walmart Canada, we aim to send zero food waste to landfill by 2025 . We’re working to achieve this by discounting food that is approaching peak freshness to encourage quick sale. Stores and distribution centres can also donate their safe, surplus food to local food banks in partnership with Food Banks Canada and can send whatever is left to organic recycling programs, where available.
Plastics
Walmart continues to reduce unnecessary plastic waste and increasing plastic recycling in our operations. We launched the Walmart Canada Charter on Plastics – our commitment to address plastic waste in Canada by using less plastic, recycling more plastic, and supporting improvements to the plastic waste reduction system. As of April 2022, we no longer offer single-use plastic checkout bags at our stores. More importantly, we project the move will help to eliminate more than 680 million plastic bags from entering circulation per year.
Packaging
Walmart is committed to making the packaging on all Walmart Brands products recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025.
Sustainable Products
We’re working with our suppliers to offer an assortment of products that are more sustainable and affordable. We’re also sourcing fresh food and products grown or manufactured in Canada, which helps support Canadian jobs and local economies and can cut down on emissions from transportation.
Meat
Walmart Canada is proud to carry fresh beef, pork and chicken sourced in Canada.
In 2023, Walmart Canada is committing to purchase 4 million pounds of beef sourced from CRSB Certified sustainable farms and ranches. This amount more than doubles the original commitment made in 2021.
Fresh Produce, Plants and Florals
In season, we aim to source all produce from Canadian growers, and many of the plants in our garden centres are grown in Canada.
We are promoting the health of bees and other pollinators by improving and expanding their habitats, by planting pollinator gardens at several Walmart Canada locations. By 2025, we aspire to have all of the fresh produce and floral we sell in our stores will come from suppliers with integrated pest-management practices, helping to reduce the exposure of pollinators to pesticides.
Household Cleaners
We're committed to stocking a variety of household cleaners that are affordable and more sustainable. We support sustainable chemistry practices to minimize the negative impacts of certain chemicals and processes on people, animals, plants and the environment.
For more, review our Sustainable Chemistry Policy.
Pulp, Paper and Palm Oils
We’re dedicated to helping reduce forest loss and making palm oil, pulp and paper more sustainable. We’ve committed to source our private brand palm oil according to the principles of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil by 2025. Also by 2025, our goal is for our private brand products made of pulp, paper and timber will be sourced deforestation-free.
See our full Forest Policy.
Seafood
We’re building transparency and continually improving our seafood supply chain to promote the health of species, fisheries and ecosystems around the world. As of 2021, all our private brand canned tuna is certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council and all our fresh Atlantic salmon is sourced in Canada.
Review our Seafood Policy here.
Textiles & Apparel
We’re working with suppliers and other stakeholders to make our textiles more sustainable as demand for these products increases along with the global population. We’re taking steps to source more sustainable cotton and recycled polyester, and to make sure fibres such as rayon and modal don’t come from ancient or endangered forests, endangered species’ habitats or other controversial sources.
Find out more on the Walmart Sustainability Hub.
Animal Welfare
Walmart is committed to ensuring the welfare and humane treatment of the farm animals in our supply chain. We don’t tolerate animal abuse of any kind, adhering to the globally recognized Five Freedoms of animal welfare.
View our full Animal Welfare policy.
