Costco, Target, Walmart are hiding something

Walmart, Target, and Costco:
Big box, big responsibility, big problem

Walmart, Target, and Costco — the Big 3 — have become some of the most powerful institutions in our daily lives. From seafood to baby food, their decisions shape what products are made, how they’re produced and packaged, and the impacts those choices have on people, communities, and the planet.

Yet too often, the true costs of doing business are borne by others. Pollution, plastic waste, toxic chemicals, environmental destruction, and labor abuses, including modern slavery, are not inevitable consequences of modern commerce—they are the result of business decisions.

These companies have the power to make better decisions. It’s time they were held accountable.

Human rights abuses and environmental destruction: Two sides of the same coin

Forced Labor and Destruction of Biodiversity

An estimated 128,000 fishers are trapped in forced labor aboard industrial fishing vessels. Many endure violence, debt bondage, dangerous working conditions, and months—or even years—at sea without a safe way to contact their families or seek help. The same conditions that enable labor abuses also fuel illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, overfishing, and the destruction of ocean ecosystems. At least 76 to 80 million sharks were killed as a result of industrial fishing in just seven years. All three companies buy tuna sourced from vessels that catch fish using methods with high bycatch rates.

Plastic Pollution & Human Health

Plastic pollution contaminates our air, water, and food, while growing evidence links plastic chemicals and microplastics to risks for human health. Throughout their lifecycle—from fossil fuel extraction to disposal—plastics pollute our communities and ecosystems while accelerating climate change.

Why These Companies?

These issues may seem very different, but they share a common driver: the decisions made by some of the world’s most powerful retailers. 

Walmart, Target, and Costco are among the world’s most influential retailers, with over $875 billion in combined annual sales. Through the products they sell, the packaging they require, and the standards they set for suppliers, they shape global industries — from seafood to consumer goods — and affect millions of workers, consumers, and communities around the world. With that influence comes responsibility. 

These companies have the power to strengthen worker protections, reduce plastic pollution, eliminate hazardous chemicals, and raise environmental standards across their global supply chains. Their choices can improve the lives of workers, protect our oceans, and reshape entire industries. But they are not making them. Take, for example, Greenpeace US’s surveys that assess U.S. supermarkets’ policies on their seafood’s human rights and sustainability policies – all three consistently fail.

The solutions exist. It’s time these companies used their influence to protect people and the planet—not just their bottom line.

Why Now?

The decisions made by a handful of corporations have never carried more weight. As public protections are weakened and environmental and human rights challenges intensify, corporate leadership is more important than ever. Consumers increasingly expect companies to protect workers, reduce pollution, and build more responsible supply chains—and these companies have the power to deliver.  

This is a pivotal moment for corporate accountability.

The evidence is growing.

Scientific research, investigations, and testimony from workers and frontline communities continue to expose the human and environmental costs of business as usual.

The solutions already exist.

From safer working conditions at sea to reuse systems that reduce plastic pollution, companies already have practical, scalable solutions within reach.

The moment to act is now.

The future isn’t decided by these companies alone. It’s shaped by what we demand of them. The choices these companies make today will shape the health of our communities, the future of our oceans, and the well-being of workers for years to come.

The future isn’t decided by these companies alone. It’s shaped by what we demand of them.

Join us in holding the Big 3 accountable.

Tell Walmart, Target and Costco to:
Sign the Big 3 Petition

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Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading 'Stop Deep Sea Mining'' to the cable holding the prototype robot, Patania II. In an action to disturb a new deep sea mining impact test carried out by the company Global Sea Mineral Resources (GSR) after a recent major failure that resulted in a 25-tonne mining robot left stuck on the Pacific Ocean seafloor for days. An activist also holds a banner reading 'Stop Deep Sea Mining'. The Greenpeace ship is in the Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific to bear witness to the deep sea mining industry. Part of the ongoing 'Protect the Oceans' campaign.
Deep sea mining
A shark is hauled in as bycatch by crew onboard an Iranian flagged vessel fishing for tuna in the Northern Indian Ocean. These vessels often fish for tuna with 7 mile long gill nets, fishing with a gill net over 1.5 miles is illegal. Greenpeace is in the Northern Indian Ocean to bear witness to the destructive fishing practices of under documented fishing fleets which it is estimated cause the bycatch of 80-100,000 cetaceans per year.
A shark is hauled in as bycatch by crew onboard an Iranian flagged vessel fishing for tuna in the Northern Indian Ocean. These vessels often fish for tuna with 7 mile long gill nets, fishing with a gill net over 1.5 miles is illegal. Greenpeace is in the Northern Indian Ocean to bear witness to the destructive fishing practices of under documented fishing fleets which it is estimated cause the bycatch of 80-100,000 cetaceans per year.
© Abbie Trayler-Smith / Greenpeace
Protecting workers & wildlife at sea
Greenpeace USA activists unfurl a giant banner reading ‘Ocean Treaty Now!’ to send a clear message to delegates at the United Nations in New York at the start of the second week of the resumed IGC5 negotiations. Without a strong Treaty being agreed at this round of talks, it will be practically impossible to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. This is the minimum scientists say is necessary to allow the oceans to recover from decades of pollution, overfishing, and other industrial activities.
Greenpeace USA activists unfurl a giant banner reading ‘Ocean Treaty Now!’ to send a clear message to delegates at the United Nations in New York at the start of the second week of the resumed IGC5 negotiations. Without a strong Treaty being agreed at this round of talks, it will be practically impossible to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. This is the minimum scientists say is necessary to allow the oceans to recover from decades of pollution, overfishing, and other industrial activities.
© Stephanie Keith / Greenpeace
The Global Oceans Treaty

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