Wal-Mart to pay more for "greener" goods

By Nichola Groom

INDIAN WELLS (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc is willing to pay more for products that last longer and hurt the environment less, the company's director of sustainability said on Thursday, adding it might not necessarily have to raise retail prices as a result.

"Bad quality products create waste, and so having tighter standards on the social side, on the environmental side and on the quality side will reduce waste," Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability, said in an interview.

"We are even willing to pay more for products that have that."

But that does not have to mean higher prices for customers.

"I don't know if we have to pass on the higher costs," Kistler said at the Clean-tech Investor Summit in Indian Wells, California.

"We are looking at a very small amount of dollars and the savings in the supply chain that we are finding because of sustainability in some cases will more than offset the incremental costs of what we are paying for a better quality item."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has set a goal of one day using only renewable energy and creating zero waste.

As part of that effort, the company has pushed its suppliers to cut back on the amount of packaging they use by 5 percent by 2013.