But here’s the challenge: what should Wal-Mart, which has been touting its recycling and environmental initiatives, do with the more than 1 million vests that employees will return to the company? In August, the retailer will announce that it’s converting the old uniforms into free supplies for the U.S. military. In partnership with the VFW Foundation and Hallmark, Wal-Mart’s used vests will become lap blankets, to be handed out at Veterans Administration hospitals in November, and packages of greeting cards, which will be sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in time for the holidays. “It’s a great project because you’re taking something everyone is familiar with and making it into something our troops need,” says Mike Gormalley, senior director of the VFW Foundation. Not all the garments are going to war: there’s already a handful of them for sale on eBay.
