Recycled Runway; Heat from Used Vegetable and Motor Oils; Tall Grass Prairie Mark Wal-Mart’s Continued Move Towards Being More Environmentally Friendly.
Aurora, Colo., November 9, 2005 – There’s new life for an old airport runway and vegetable oil used to fry chicken at Wal-Mart’s new experimental store in Aurora, Colorado. More than 500 tons of Denver Stapleton Airport’s runway, crushed up and recycled, has been used in the store’s foundation. The used vegetable oil from the store’s Deli and used motor oil from the store’s Tire and Lube Express will be burned to help heat the store.
This new supercenter has brought 300 new jobs to the Denver area, and it will offer a full line of groceries, bakery goods, deli foods, meat and dairy products, fresh produce, a Tire Lube and Express and a vision center just to name a few, and it will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Our associates are excited to be able to serve our Denver neighbors and use this unique store to show how our company is working towards a more energy efficient building,” says Charlie Harris, Wal-Mart store manager.
“Wal-Mart wants to be a leader in corporate responsibility for the environment and our shareholders,” says Pat Curran, executive vice president of Wal-Mart Stores USA. “We want to continue our efforts and education about environmental sustainability and how it applies to our business. We believe that being a good steward of the environment and operating an efficient and profitable business are not mutually exclusive.”
The goals for both experimental stores, this store and another that opened this past summer in McKinney, TX, were to reduce the amount of energy and natural resources required to operate and maintain the stores, reduce the amount of raw materials needed to construct the facility, and substitute, when appropriate, renewable materials.
In Aurora, Wal-Mart is proud to have taken part in what has been labeled “The World’s Largest Recycling Project” in Colorado. “We worked with a local company, Recycled Materials Company, to recycle 518 tons of material and concrete from the old Stapleton runways to build the foundation for our Aurora supercenter,” says Don Moseley, director of experimental stores.
As Wal-Mart’s President and CEO, Lee Scott stated in a recent speech, Wal-Mart is committed to building a new prototype that will be 25-30 percent more efficient and produce 30% less greenhouse gas emissions than current stores within the next 4 years. “This store in Aurora will test over 50 different experiments to help us evaluate some technologies that will help us achieve that goal,” Moseley adds.
Some of the key experiments include solar and wind power, waste oil boilers, porous pavements, radiant floor heating that will help keep pedestrian areas clear of snow, and unique fabric duct air systems to heat and cool the building efficiently. There will even be a tall grass prairie on site and a place to welcome our RV visitors as they stop off I-70.
Wal-Mart has contracted with the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) of Golden, Col., to provide monitoring, testing, and analysis on store systems and materials, based on national scientific measurements and standards, for a period of three years. “We will share our lessons learned from this store with others in the industry so that we all can learn and the environment can benefit from these technologies becoming more mainstream,” says Moseley.
For a press kit, downloadable high resolution photos, and real-time information on how much energy is being generated from wind and solar power, visit www.walmartfacts.com or www.walmartstores.com
About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM’S CLUB locations in the United States. The company operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company’s securities are listed on the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under the symbol WMT. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com. Press releases and other Wal-Mart facts are available at www.walmartfacts.com.
- # # # -
FACT SHEET
Aurora Wal-Mart Supercenter
Store fast facts
• Location: 3301 N. Tower Road, Aurora, Colo.
• 206,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter
• Store grand opening 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 9th, 2005.
• Store manager: Charlie Harris
Store features
• Full line of groceries, bakery goods, deli foods, frozen foods, meat and dairy products and fresh produce, liquor sales, apparel and accessories, fine jewelry, lawn and garden center, health and beauty aids, full line of electronics, Tire & Lube Express, vision center, Subway restaurant, Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake Pizza, portrait studio, one-hour photo lab, pharmacy with two drive-up lanes, hair salon, Academy Bank branch and a Wal-Mart Connect Center.
• Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• 22 full-service, 10 express and eight self check-out lanes
Employment
• 300 new jobs; 3,000 applicants
• Majority of jobs are full-time
• The average wage at Wal-Mart for full-time hourly associates in the Denver area is $11.43 per hour.*
• Wal-Mart benefits – available to full- and part-time associates – include healthcare insurance with no lifetime maximum. Associate premiums begin at less than $40 per month for an individual and less than $155 per month for a family, no matter how large. Wal-Mart also offers a 401(k) plan and profit sharing contributions, whether an associate contributes or not, store discount cards, performance-based bonuses, discounted stock purchase program and life insurance.
• Store Manager Charlie Harris started as a part-time hourly associate 12 years ago in the hardware department at a store in Moscow, Idaho.
* Average wage taken October 2004.
See www.walmartfacts.com for details.
Charitable giving
• $13,500 in charitable contributions to nine area organizations
• City of Aurora
• City of Aurora Fire Department
• Community College of Aurora Foundation
• Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver
• Hispanic Chamber Education Foundation
• Mile High United Way
• Ronald McDonald House of Denver
• Safe Haven Foundation
• Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
