Big-box behemoths Sears and Kmart have agreed to phase out nasty plastic PVC from all products in their 3,800 stores. While admirable, the announcement merely makes those stores the lemmings of PVC abandonment; IKEA, Wal-Mart, and Target have all previously agreed to go PVC-free. In other big-box news, the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency has accused Wal-Mart of sourcing wood for its products from Chinese manufacturers who use Russian timber that was likely logged illegally. Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. importer of wood products, has publicly announced a goal to use only sustainably harvested wood by 2010. Meanwhile, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) accused Wal-Mart of selling ornaments produced in a Chinese sweatshop with low labor and environmental standards. So, uh, maybe you shouldn’t go big-box holiday shopping after all.
