Wal-Mart rates packaging sustainability

01 February 2008 18:13  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)-- Retail giant Wal-Mart began rating its suppliers with an environmental scorecard on Friday as part of the company's goal of reducing the use of packaging made from plastics and other chemicals.

Wal-Mart's goal is to reduce 5% of its global packaging by 2013, as well as to replace polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in store-brand packaging.

Wal-Mart said it will determine how many products will continue to be packaged in PVC and take steps to eliminate it from private brand packages by the third quarter.

“It is important to us that our suppliers see the intrinsic value behind sustainability, both for their business and the environment,” said senior vice president of sustainability Matt Kistler.

The scorecard evaluates the sustainability of product packaging based on six metrics and gives suppliers an overall rating compared with their competitors in each product category.

The environmental scorecard also assigns points based on whether the packaging material has travelled less than 500 miles (805 km), 500-3,000 miles, or more than 3,000 miles.

Following a year of testing, the company said more than 97,000 products from 6,371 vendors have been added to the programme.

Wal-Mart is ranked as the biggest retailer in the world, with annual sales exceeding $300bn (€240bn).

($1.00 = €0.67)

By: Landon Feller
+1 713 525 2653

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly