Gift Giving at Sam's Club Going Green

I really never thought that I would find as interesting as I do all the ways that each of us can make a difference for the environment with the simple every things that we do. Now, as a member of Sam's Club, a new opportunity has come my way.

To set the table properly, I should first tell you that during the 2006 holiday season, more than $24.8 billion was spent on all the available gift cards out there(according to the fourth annual National Retail Federation Gift Card Survey), making them easily the number one gift choice, but did you know that the majority of those gift cards are actually made from oil? I didn't think so.

At Sam's Club, members now have an opportunity to put even more green on gift cards. In addition to the cash green they will have as currency value, gift cards at Sam's Club will also have "renewable" green value as they will be made from plastic that comes from midwestern field corn. These cards become a very responsible way to "gift" on more than one level, to a family member, friend or colleague as "cash", and at the same time a gift back to the environment for purchasing a card made with NatureWorks(R) Polymer that is a nature based material that has the durability of everyday plastic.

The product is created by using natural sugars found in corn and other plants, so it can renewed from the fields every 100 days as opposed to the 100 million years it takes to renew oil. The sugar is fermented into lactic acid, which is a naturally occurring substance that creates the bite in yogurt and strangely at the same time is the reason muscles ache after a workout. Here I just thought it was the workout itself.

The lactic acid is made into plastic pellets, which then may be used for a variety of purposes, one being the available gift cards at Sam's Club. This just one of the "going green" initiatives going on at Sam's Club, and you can find out more about these gifts cards and the other programs at www.samsclub.com. Large amount of focus is given to initiatives on energy usage, waste reduction as well as packaging choices.