Earlier this month, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. released a packaging scorecard to continue its commitment of reducing packaging across its global supply chain by 5% by 2013, helping Wal-Mart and its suppliers improve packaging and conserve resources. The company first announced this packaging initiative at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City in September 2006.
"We at Wal-Mart recognize that we have unique strengths and a unique opportunity to have a positive impact on the environment through our own actions, those of our customers and those of our suppliers," said Matt Kistler, vice president of package & product innovations for Sam's Club. "As vital as the packaging initiative is to reaching our environmental goals, it is also very good for our business and our suppliers' business."
Wal-Mart's packaging scorecard is a measurement tool that allows suppliers to evaluate themselves relative to other suppliers, based on specific metrics. The metrics in the scorecard evolved from a list of favorable attributes announced earlier this year, known as the "7 R's of Packaging": Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew, Revenue, and Read. Through months of consultations, the Packaging Sustainable Value Network, a group of 200 leaders in the global packaging industry, including suppliers, experts, and internal and external stakeholders, outlined the following metrics for the packaging scorecard:
- 15% will be based on GHG / CO2 per ton of Production
- 15% will be based on Material Value
- 15% will be based on Product / Package Ratio
- 15% will be based on Cube Utilization
- 10% will be based on Transportation
- 10% will be based on Recycled Content
- 10% will be based on Recovery Value
- 5% will be based on Renewable Energy
- 5% will be based on Innovation
In addition to preventing millions of pounds of trash from reaching landfills, the program will save energy and reduce emissions.
An automated online demonstration is available at www.scorecardlibrary.com. An additional website, www.marketgate.com/packaging, showcasing the Packaging Supplier Virtual Trade show, will help product suppliers find packaging suppliers who can help them make improvements and conserve resources more effectively.
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