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The Home Depot is known as a “home improvement specialty retailer” with locations in every state, including DC, Puerto Rico, China, Virgin Islands, Canada and Mexico. They sell appliances, flooring, building materials, doors, windows, lighting, kitchen and bathroom counters and cabinets, paint, tools and outdoor materials.
Everybody talks about wanting to help the environment, which includes preserving the forests. We try to use recycled paper and products, but what do we do when we need to build or construct something out of wood? At the Home Depot, the lumber sold is from forests managed in such a way that ensure its protection, along with the protection of its inhabitants. It takes almost 64 trees to create all the wood products found in the typical kitchen. That’s a lot of trees considering every household has a kitchen, so why wouldn’t someone want to buy FSC certified lumber, and make that eco-friendly effort.
The Home Depot is also the place for all your energy saving needs with an extensive collection of solar and energy efficient products which help save money on utility bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Home Depot also supplies paint that reduces emissions and improves air quality for earth but especially for your home and family. Freshaire Choice paint, only available at the Home Depot, is the first and only paint tinted paint to contain no Volatile Organic Compounds, which are harsh chemicals in paint that give it that paint smell.
Although building or remodeling may not be a very environmentally sound activity, society will continue to build houses, make wood kitchen cabinets, paint walls and use electricity, so why not be as eco-friendly as possible. The Home Depot is an ideal place to go for those eco-friendly products.
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Better than most
From the start of their environmental program in 1990, Home Depot has continued to delve into projects to better the environment through their business decisions. In the past, they have invested $100 million to build green homes & plant three million trees, donated $200,000 to offset carbon emissions, and produced Eco products in Canada,among other things. Though they are not perfect, I think Home Depot should be admired for the steps they are taking towards bettering their social and environmental responsibility.It's definitely more than most businesses can say.
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Not Green, But Also Not Greenwashing
I agree with sblood10. Home Depot is headed in the right direction, but it still has a long way to go. I rank it higher than GE because it doesn't boast about efforts with mediocre results.
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eh
Yes it looks to me like they are trying to be green but can't quite get the picture. They are selling all these green products which is good but if they are not practicing themselves then what is the point. They are the walmart of the home improvement market and by them going "green" is almost as much as walmart trying to go "organic". Kind of an oxymoron if you ask me. They have such a huge amount of stores and distribution centers they need to practicing going green at all these locations and through out there distribution line. So untill they do this they cannont be considered a green company!
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Eco-conscious logging
I don't know how important using wood for construction and building things is today in an era where so many materials are available, but I don't see any business that sponsors or takes part in logging forests (homes to countless natural habitats and ecosystems) can be seen as environmentally conscious. With all the paper we consume on a regular basis, and all the momentum reforestation efforts have to gain before we can balance the damage we've done, how can we continue to log when we don't have to?
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Will the doctor take its own medicine?
Home Depot is a lot like GE in that they spend a lot of money on green PR, highlighting their eco-sensible portfolio and all the recycled fertilizer, flourescent lights, and products they purchase from environmentally friendly suppliers, yet they fail to look inward and clean up the emissions of their own stores and transportation. And for a company with as many locations as Home Depot, the inefficiencies of the average outlet will multiply to a massive aggregate effect. If they truly believed in what they prescribed to others with their eco-friendly doors, windows, insulation, motion sensors, and ENERGY STAR rated appliances they wouldn't shy away from providing the public and shareholders information regarding their own energy usage. To truly be an eco-conscious company they have to believe in the necessity for reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and if they did maintain this belief they would allow transparency to show everyone they were making progress, who would in turn provide encouragement for taking painful financial steps towards cleaning up.
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Almost, but not quite
Various programs and product offerings over the last couple decades clearly paint a picture of Home Depot as one of the companies that 'gets it' in terms of being conscious of the environment. They have a well-documented 20-year old environmental policy that outlines recycling, reducing and making use of waste, and obtaining lumber from suppliers that practice responsible forestry: http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/c1/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gDdwNHH0sfE3M3AzMPJ8OAEBcDKADKR2LKmxrD5fHr9vPIz03VL8iNKAcAJzsP4g!!/dl2/d1/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnB3LzZfMEcwQUw5TDQ3RjA2SEIxUEdEMDAwMDAwMDA!/
But being a supplier of responsible products does not necessarily mean they are doing everything they can to eliminate emissions - and investors recently voted down a shareholder initiative to systematically measure and set goals for reducing energy consumption. Some say this puts them at a competitive disadvantage, as shareholders in many industries are pushing energy programs to bring efficiency standards to the forefront of their company. Dodging this sort of scrutiny by voting down the bill will hurt Home Depot in the long-run - by saying they do not want their in-store, transportation, and supply chain energy usage monitered, they will be casting a skeptical eye on the rest of their green initiatives and potentially reducing the volume of green praise they get for the environmental policies they have worked long and hard to gain recognition for.
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Green Goods
On my trip to Home Depot today there were tons of "environmentally friendly" options available as far as cleaning products go. The manager that was showing me around noted that some products like fungicide look "green" because of package design but actually say on the bottle that it is not meant as an "eco-friendly" alternative. Interesting. Guess you have to really look at everything you buy. But I was really impressed that they have CFL recycling. CFLs contain mercury and need to be disposed of correctly - Home Depot is on it, they just need to get the word out more.
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Headed in the Right Direction
I commend Home Depot for its efforts, especially its connection with FSC certified lumber-- this entails sustainable harvesting techniques and respect for workers' rights. However, aside from the lumber products, how accessible are the other eco-friendly products, such as CFLs and green cleaning products?
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Impressive
Impressive business
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