Target Completely Misses the Mark
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.18.07
While it's always encouraging to see companies turn over a new leaf and adopt a more pro-active, sustainable approach to conducting business, we all know that for every one company that genuinely follows through with its lofty commitments, ten more will try to greenwash their way to that goal. Case in point is Target. Although it may claim to be committed to environmental values and to "respecting the communities and ecosystems" it "operates in" by reducing its energy impact, gaffes like this only serve to highlight the emptiness of their green rhetoric.
Ignoring five previous orders from the EPA to remove all cans of illegally imported confetti string products from its shelves, Target will be slapped with a $120,000 civil penalty for carrying and selling Horrible Spooky String. Many of these confetti string products are known to contain hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), toxic chemicals which, in addition to increasing one's risk of developing skin cancer, have been found to deplete the planet's ozone layer.
"Importers of consumer products containing illegal substances beware. EPA banned HCFC propellants in most spray cans more than a decade ago and importers must be careful to guard against bringing in products that could harm human health or the environment," said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator.
Having received the message loud and clear, Target has agreed to follow EPA's guidelines by shipping the confetti products to an incinerator for destruction (about 785,516 cans' worth). Furthermore, it has also pledged to implement new policies to ensure such problems don't come up again and plans on auditing its operations. They've talked the talk before. Let's see them walk the walk.
Via ::Occupational Health & Safety: Company Fined $120,000 for 'Horrible Spooky' Effects on Health, Environment (news website)
See also: ::Style.com Green Shopping Guide: Greenwashing a gogo?
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I think the claim that "in addition to increasing one's risk of developing skin cancer, [HCFCs] have been found to deplete the planet's ozone layer" is misleading in that the ozone depletion and subsequent increase in UV exposure is what increases the risk of skin cancer, rather than exposure to the HCFCs themselves.
The phrasing in the original article is somewhat confusing, but I think that is what was meant.
This may potentially go beyond "gaffe." Not mentioned in the source document, nor in EPA's press release, is that this looks like a further example of Chinese manufacturers willfully designing and selling things for the US market that are either bad for the general environment or directly hazardous to customers and pets
US distributors and sellers need not just to gabble about sustainability and buy green power; they need to hold their suppliers accountable to rational, commonsense rules and regulations long ago established in the US and emulated elsewhere in the developed world. Clearly this issue is beyond just "FDA" getting more budget allocations for inspection. To maintain credibility, corporations have to crack the whip over suppliers, Wal-mart style.
Oh great! They are going to incinerate them. That seems like a perfectly logical thing to do. I don't even want the think about the emmisions, it scares me.
If you have a very efficient incinerator it reduces the material to its base parts, in this case probably CO2 for the cans contents and plastic parts and some metal pellets for the can. If you have a bad incinerator (and my father worked next to one for a while that was eventually shut down by the EPA) you just spread all the chemicals around. You're right to be concerned.
I recently went to the newish target here in Berkeley, CA. I could not find any (zero) packages of toilet paper made from recycled paper. could not find soap and hair products that are not put into an animals eye. target may have a "hip" image but their lack of sustainable and enviro-conscious offerings for sale will lead many of us to avoid shopping from them. i honestly think walmart may offer more for the greenies to buy.
I recently went to the newish target here in Berkeley, CA. I could not find any (zero) packages of toilet paper made from recycled paper. could not find soap and hair products that are not put into an animals eye.
You live in Berkeley and went to Target? Berkely Bowl. Hello.
I buy all of my Seventh Generation products from Target for SO much cheaper than health food stores.
captainpebes : weird. Target usually sells Method brand soaps, and they don't test on animals: http://www.methodhome.com/whatfor/environment.php
I went into a Target for the first time in a long while and I saw organic bedsheet sets for $39.99. I looked closely at the packaging, and they were fully organic, and made for Target distribution. I do not recall the thread count or where they were made, but I was surprised nonetheless!
They are available online too.