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Wal-Mart Scores on Packaging
In our July 2006 Newsroom edition, we reported on Wal-Mart's profitable and innovative use of a new Plastic Sandwich Bale system, allowing the retail chain to collect and recycle millions of pounds of plastic film and wrap that otherwise would have been tossed. Now, Wal-Mart is taking a bold step to reduce packaging waste in the first place. Through their packaging scorecard, Wal-Mart will require suppliers to input their packaging information, then evaluate and rate their packaging relative to packaging for similar products. Wal-Mart released these scores this month to their more than 60,000 suppliers.
Starting in February 2008, Wal-Mart will begin using the packaging scorecard in their decision-making process for purchasing products. By implementing the scorecard, Wal-Mart hopes to reduce packaging in its supply chain by 5 percent by 2013.
Wal-Mart anticipates that it will see similar results to when it improved the packaging for its private label Kid Connection toy line last year. By working with its suppliers, Wal-Mart was able to reduce the packaging on almost 300 toys, saving 3,800 trees and 1,000 barrels of oil and $2.4 million in transportation costs in just one year.
The packaging scorecard was created by Packaging Sustainable Value Network, a group of 200 leaders in the global packaging industry, including suppliers, experts, and internal and external stakeholders. The group outlined the following metrics for the packaging scorecard:
- 15 percent will be based on GHG / CO2 per ton of Packaging Production;
- 15 percent will be based on Material Value, a measure of the environmental and health impacts of material production;
- 15 percent will be based on Product/Package Ratio;
- 15 percent will be based on Cube Utilization, a measure of effective use of space on pallets and in shipping containers;
- 10 percent will be based on Transportation, using the distance to transport packages to the place where they are filled;
- 10 percent will be based on Recycled Content, using the percentage of post-consumer recycled content of packaging materials used;
- 10 percent will be based on Recovery Value, using the national recycling rate for that material;
- 5 percent will be based on Renewable Energy, acknowledging that the packaging materials or conversion facility uses renewable energy; and
- 5 percent will be based on Innovation, giving "extra credit" for package design, materials, or construction that offer some environmental benefit not captured in another measure of the scorecard.
“We are encouraged by the positive response from our suppliers and are looking forward to continuing this collaboration,” said Matt Kistler, senior vice president of Marketing, Research, and Insights for Sam’s Club. “We have an opportunity to make a real positive impact and inspire change across the packaging industry.”
Wal-Mart’s packaging scorecard initiative exemplifies the types of activities encouraged by our Resource Conservation Challenge within the national priority area of Municipal Solid Waste and Recycling.
For More Information:
- Resource Conservation Challenge national priority area: Municipal Solid Waste and Recycling.
- Wal-Mart's
Waste Reduction Web site
