Walmart celebrates diversity, sustainability in BTS launch
Despite it being an open question on whether students will physically be going back to school this year, Walmart still is gearing up for the back-to-school shopping season, launching an exclusive set of crayons that reflects the swath of diversity in the world and a call for sustainability.
In concert with the season, Walmart announced all of its store brand and national brand products that contain paper and pulp (excluding wood pencils) sold in its stores must be made from either recycled material, virgin fiber certified to standards of the Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forestry Initiative or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, or a mix of recycled and certified virgin fiber.
These products include back-to-school staples such as loose-leaf paper, spiral notebooks, composition notebooks, planners, poster board and more. The items will be marked with a logo from one of the certifiable organizations.
Walmart’s call for sustainable paper products is part of a larger goal related to deforestation, and the retailer knows its suppliers and buyers will need to go through extra steps to meet the standard.
The retailer is also celebrating the season with new products for students and tools for teachers. One store brand exclusive is a Crayola Colors of the World box of 32 crayons designed to promote the representation of the growing diversity in the world, formulating crayons that represent global skin tones, hair colors and eye colors. The crayons will only be available at Walmart.
Walmart has also rolled out walmart.com/teachers, an online destination to help teachers find items such as teaching aids and classroom decorations. Parents teaching at home can buy the items, too. Teachers can also use Walmart’s Events Registry to create classroom wish lists to easily share supply needs with parents and others.
Additionally, an online learning resource has been placed at walmart.com/learning, featuring videos, workbooks and learning products.