A Texas grocery chain has decided to stop selling disposable DVDs, a product that outraged environmentalists and apparently didn"t sell too well, either. About 20 H-E-B grocery stores in the Austin area sold the EZ-Ds, vacuum-sealed movies that, once opened, play for 48 hours before a chemical reaction on the surface of the discs renders them unplayable. Buena Vista Home Entertainment, a division of Disney, has been test marketing the product since September. More than 30 movies are now available in the disposable format, including Chicago, Freaky Friday and The Waterboy. The discs sell for about $7.
H-E-B stores will stop selling the EZ-Ds in the next two or three weeks, according to Susan Ghertner, environmental affairs manager for the grocery chain. Ghertner said the decision was not made for environmental reasons; rather, company officials "made the decision strictly on sales." "It just wasn"t a good fit for us," she said. "It didn"t turn out to be an item that our customers were looking for." A Buena Vista representative declined to comment. Environmentalists cheered the news. "We consider this a big victory," said Robin Schneider, executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment, which has protested outside stores that sell the EZ-Ds. "We are calling on other retailers to follow the lead of H-E-B."