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Walmart & sustainable packaging, then and now

Posted by Chandler Slavin on Feb 11, 2014 8:58:00 AM

Hello all!

Writing from balmy Chicago, where the average temperature the last 4 months has been below zero. Neato!

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to Walmart's Global Sustainability Milestone Meeting in Bentonville, Arkansas, February 17th. Walmart's new CEO & President, Doug McMillon, is to address Walmart's packaging supply chain for the first time since his appointment. I assume this is an extension of the bi-annual Packaging Sustainable Value Network meetings, which I have attended with great enthusiasm since Dordan first exhibited at the 6th Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo in 2011.

For those of you unfamiliar with Walmart's foray into sustainable packaging, a couple of items need mention: Walmart's "Packaging Scorecard," introduced in 2008, looked to hold suppliers accountable for the "sustainability" of their product packaging for the first time in history. The goal of the Scorecard was to facilitate an overall reduction in the retailer's packaging by 5% by 2013. There was much buzz about the Scorecard, as suppliers struggled to calculate and report packaging Scores for each product sold at Walmart. 

In order to exhibit at the Walmart Sustainable Packaging Expo-- a great opportunity for packaging suppliers to get in front of Walmart buyers-- companies had to prepare a "Packaging Success Story"; this required an active subscription to the Walmart Scorecard modeling software, which allowed manufacturers to demonstrate a "reduction in Packaging Score." A reduction in Score meant that through a package reduction/redesign, the "sustainability" of the packaging was improved when compared with the previous version.

Before being granted exhibiting status, however, companies had to submit their Packaging Success Stories to Environmental Packaging International for an environmental claims audit. This was to ensure that all companies exhibiting at the Sustainable Packaging Expo were not green washing in their claims of sustainable packaging.

Here is Dordan's Packaging Success Story that served as entry to exhibit at the Sustainable Packaging Expo:

packaging success story resized 600

Click here to download our whitepaper on this Packaging Success Story.

In a nutshell, Walmart wasn't joking around when it came to sustainable packaging in 2011. Real requirements were being mandated, and real decisions were allegedly being made thereon.

So, what happened between 2011 and 2014 in the world of sustainable packaging? Did Walmart achieve their 5% reduction in packaging by 2013? Indeed they did. Here is the retailer's latest update on sustainability, published to the Green Room February 5th. As of date, it seems as though sustainability at Walmart has become more product-centric than packaging-specific, a change in focus I applaud.

To these regards, I have heard that there will not be a 9th Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo; it is being consumed by the new Product Expo, which highlights innovations in products, with a subset devoted to packaging. This development towards emphasizing sustainability at the product level is also reflected in the absorption of the Walmart Packaging Scorecard into the Global Packaging Project's metrics for sustainability, to be reported via Global GS1 barcode system. For more information on changes to the Walmart Scorecard, visit this blog post.

So yeah. That is where we have been with sustainable packaging at Walmart since the introduction of the Scorecard in 2008. Exciting stuff, seriously. I look forward to the upcoming Sustainability Milestone Meeting in Bentonville; I am curious what is next for Walmart and sustainability.

For Dordan's thermoformed retail packaging solutions, click here.

Topics: Walmart Packaging Scorecard, Walmart Sustainable Packaging Expo, Packaging Sustainable Value Network, Sustainable packaging, Walmart scorecard, Walmart

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