According to a company announcement issued Nov. 1, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is making available a scorecard for manufacturers to rank their packaging use that will eventually determine which companies can continue to sell to them. The move is part of an effort to cut the amount of packaging used by Wal-Mart's 60,000 suppliers.
Release of a test version of the scorecard follows Wal-Mart's announcement in September that it was seeking to cut the amount of packaging used by its suppliers by 5 percent by 2013.
Wal-Mart is inviting its suppliers to use the scorecard to evaluate the environmental impact of current packaging systems relative to other suppliers, based on specific metrics, the company said.
According to Wal-Mart's announcement, the packaging scorecard is weighted as follows:
- 15 percent for the amount of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide produced per ton of packaging production,
- 15 percent for how much raw material is being used to create the package,
- 15 percent for how small a package is used for the product,
- 15 percent for the ratio of packaging to product,
- 10 percent for transportation impacts,
- 10 percent for how much recycled content is in the package,
- 10 percent for the packaging material's recovery value,
- 5 percent on whether renewable energy was used to produce the package, and
- 5 percent for innovation in packaging.
Wal-Mart said that during a one-year trial period, beginning Feb. 1, 2007, suppliers will be able to input, store, and track data in the scorecard and share their results, as they desire. A year later, the retailer will begin making purchasing decisions based upon the scorecard results.
More information on the test version of Wal-Mart scorecard for suppliers is available at http://www.scorecardlibrary.com/.
More information on the test version of Wal-Mart scorecard for suppliers is available at http://www.scorecardlibrary.com/.
