Sam’s Club Embraces Sustainability

Wal-Mart Stores continues to burnish its green reputation, opening its most earth-friendly Sam’s Club to date. The store, in Fayetteville, Ark., showcases numerous sustainable features, some of which, such as the skylights and energy-efficient LED lighting with motion sensors in the freezer cases, are being used increasingly throughout the chain. Others are less common, including:

Improved daylight harvesting/skylighting system (with more than 200 skylights) that reduces consumption more than in previous locations;

Closed-loop CO₂ secondary refrigerant system in the freezer cases and a closed-loop secondary glycol system in the chilled food/beverages area dramatically reduces refrigerant charge and greenhouse gas impact;

On-site water treatments that include two 35,000-sq.-ft. gallon above-ground tanks that harvest rainwater to use in landscaping via a drip irrigation system, bio-swale that removes sediment from water before it can enter stormwater sewer system, customer car wash that reclaims 60% of the water used, and a storm sewer inlet that allows for debris to fall out before entering the stormwater treatment inlet.

There is also a big emphasis recycling, with services for tires, batteries, cardboard, food waste and building materials. A baler compacts and packages all of the shrink wrap used to hold merchandise on pallets. The plastic is then sold and reused for a wide range of products.

Signage is located throughout the building and its grounds, identifying the club’s sustainable componants.

For more on Wal-Mart’s environmental efforts, see story on page 112.