Wal-Mart Offers E Patrol Recycled Stuff For Kids

New Line Of Earth-Friendly School Supplies Is Wal-Mart Exclusive

The creators of television's E Patrol have introduced a line of recycled-content school supplies called "E Patrol Recycled Stuff For Kids."

Created for boys and girls between the ages of six and twelve, the new Earth-friendly product line includes pocket folders and theme books printed on recycled paper. These products will be available exclusively in a majority of Wal-Mart stores beginning in July.

The eight colorful and distinctive new designs feature the trend-setting graphics and popular kid-to-kid catch-phrases of E Patrol Members Only!, a series of environmental educational messages broadcast to kids by TV stations around the country.

Each of the folders includes a cut-out E Patrol Membership Card on which children pledge to "... protect other planetary life forms, crusade for clean water and air, use less energy, and remember to recycle and reuse."

"Offering environmentally-friendly products such as E Patrol school supplies is a small step in the right direction for Wal-Mart," said Tom Montgomery, manager of Wal-Mart's environmental program. "We believe it is our responsibility to be a part of the collective effort to protect and preserve our natural resources. We provide environmentally-improved products to our customers, support educational programs for children and support and encourage local community environmental activities."

The messages of E Patrol Recycled Stuff For Kids discourage littering and encourage recycling, energy conservation and the cultivation of native plants -- simple actions that children can take that make a difference.

The E Patrol brand was created in 1993 by PlaNet Productions, Inc., Olathe, Kansas, as a way to encourage kids to care about the Earth.

"Our mission includes not only educating kids and their parents about recycling," explains Laura Lombardi, E Patrol Founder and President of PlaNet Productions, "but also supporting markets for recycled materials, so recycling makes better and better economic sense."

E Patrol TV messages have been syndicated nationally for five years. E Patrol environmental educational materials are used by schools, museums and Scouts throughout the United States. E Patrol community outreach programs are sponsored by Wal-Mart, Sprint, Ford, Boeing and Coca-Cola, among others.

Wal-Mart (WMT) operates over 2,300 stores in all fifty states. Internationally, the company operates units in Argentina (9), Brazil (8), Canada (144), Germany (21), Mexico (402), and Puerto Rico (13), and under joint venture or franchise agreements in China (3). Wal-Mart employs more than 700,000 associates in the United States and 105,000 internationally. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. created more than 47,000 jobs in 1997 and invested more than $81 million in charitable and educational organizations across the nation through the Wal-Mart Foundation.

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©1998 PlaNet Productions, Inc