RILA signs up for Smartway program

The Retail Leaders Industry Association, representing large merchandisers such as Wal-Mart, JC Penney, and Home Depot, has signed up for the U.S Environmental Protection Agency's Smartway Transport Partnership program.

Smartway encourages companies that provide or hire freight delivery and logistics services to reduce their energy consumption to improve the environment and save money. The program offers transportation companies strategies to operate more efficiently and helps provide low-interest loans for cleaner burning vehicles. Shippers also take steps to cut their fuel consumption through better planning and loading dock techniques and commit to use Smartway carriers for a percentage of their delivery needs.

RILA does not operate or control any assets itself and can't directly reduce fuel consumption or emissions. As an affiliate member, it will work to promote Smartway participation among its members to help the EPA achieve its goals. The agency projects the program will save 3.3 billion to 6.6 billion gallons of diesel fuel per year, cutting carbon dioxide emissions from 33 million to 66 million metric tons and nitrogen oxide up to 200,000 tons.

Several RILA members already belong to Smartway, which has more than 450 industry partners.

RILA is also taking the environmental message to its members by hosting its first Environmental Sustainability and Compliance Conference Sept. 22-24 in Frisco, Texas. Earlier this month, the trade association announced it is helping the EPA launch later this year a retail-specific Web portal to serve as a clearinghouse of information and best practices on environmental compliance, sustainability and pollution prevention. The portal will consolidate information scattered throughout the EPA Web site to make access easier for people interested in retail solutions.