The US retail giant says the figures are encouraging; it expects the numbers using the Scorecard, an online tool that evaluates the sustainability of product packaging based on greenhouse gas emissions, to “dramatically increase” in the coming year.
A sector first, the Scorecard was launched last September in New York as the central element of a major five-year initiative under which Wal-Mart plans to measure its 60,000 worldwide suppliers on their ability to develop sustainable packaging. The Scorecard's goal, with the full involvement of its huge global FMCG product and packaging supplier base, is to help the company reduce its overall packaging use by 5% by 2013, creating an estimated US$10.98bn in savings.
First made available to over 60,000 suppliers on February 1, the scorecard takes into account greenhouse gas emissions related to packaging's production, material value, product to packaging ratio, cube utilisation (“making the most of a product's space on shelf and in the truck”), recycled content use, innovation, the amount of renewable energy used to manufacture it, the recovery value of the raw materials and emissions related to transporting it.
Wal-Mart says: “Suppliers using the Scorecard will receive a score per package relative to their peers in each category.”
From next year the retailer's buyers will be able use the scorecard to “influence” their purchasing decisions. Wal-Mart says it will also begin measuring suppliers and rewarding them for sustainable packaging use from February 1, 2008 onwards.
“We have already used the scorecard to evaluate two types of packaging,” says Josh Hannay, business development manager from Ruiz Food Products, which supplies Wal-Mart with El Monterey brand frozen Mexican food products. “The scorecard was easy to used and gave us a single number that translates into how we're doing and how we can do better. Our company is looking forward to reducing waste while saving money.”
News on the scorecard's first month in use were unveiled as product and packaging suppliers to Wal-Mart attended the company's second “Sustainability Packaging Exposition, in Rogers, Arkansas, to learn about new sustainable packaging materials. This year 130 packaging suppliers showed nearly 3,000 product suppliers “alternatives to traditional packaging”, for instance packs made from renewable resources like corn or potatoes.
“We are in a unique position to drive positive change in the area of sustainability by working with our suppliers,” says Matt Kistler, senior vice-president of marketing, research and insights for Sam's Club and captain of Wal-Mart's Packaging Sustainability Network. “The packaging scorecard helps everyone by making better decisions that are good for business, our customer and the environment.”
