Food Processing - February 2008 - (Page 40)

Wal- Mart PaCK aGING NOtE tO MaRkEtING Sales, marketing and design executives – as well as package engineers and packaging suppliers – interested in learning more about how to use the Wal-Mart Packaging Scorecard should check out professional training sessions such as those offered by the Sustainability Education partnership (www.sustainabilityeducation.com), Solon, Ohio. the training sessions focus on efficiently entering packages into the scorecard system, performing scorecard calculations and improving package scores – and also offer a behind-thescenes glimpse at how Wal-Mart uses the scorecard system. 324,000 tons of coal and 67 million gallons of diesel fuel per year.” The scorecard initiative is expected to keep 667,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and millions of pounds of trash out of landfills. The scorecard initially is going live in the U.S., to be followed by Canada and eventually the other countries in which Wal-Mart does business. Working out the kinks Wal-Mart and the Packaging SVN have spent the past year working to perfect the scorecard, including its calculations and the assumptions and data used in the calculations. “Wal-Mart’s caveat to its suppliers is to not make any packaging changes based on a score they get on the scorecard right now, because much of the underlying scorecard data is in flux,” says Brian O’Banion, vice president of the Fibre Box Assn. (www.fibrebox.org), Elk Grove Village, Ill., and a member of the Packaging SVN’s Steering Committee. “The formulas are being refined, and new data on the environmental It’s tough enough for a food procescharacteristics of various packaging sor to get onto Wal-Mart shelves (and dairy substrates is being researched by cases); this month’s application of the Packaging Scorethird-party groups such as the EPA card may make it even tougher. and non-governmental organizations,” he adds. “Figuring out which packagthE SEvEN Rs ing changes provide the greatest Wal-Mart has created a list of guidelines related to sustainability that its suppliers can use sustainability impact – and which when designing, redesigning or evaluating packaging. the retailer describes the guidelines, don’t – will be one of the big areas which it calls the “Seven Rs,” as follows: of interest after the scorecard goes 1. Remove Packaging: Eliminate unnecessary packaging such as extra boxes or layers. live, I believe. Suppliers should note 2. Reduce Packaging: Right-size packages and optimize material strength. they can still get credit for packag3. Reuse Packaging: Choose reusable pallets and plastic containers. ing changes made before February 4. Renewable Packaging: use materials made of renewable resources; select biodegradable 2008, but they won’t know the true or compostable materials. effect on their score or its relevancy 5. Recyclable Packaging: use materials made of the highest recycled content without comuntil all the SKUs in a category have promising quality. been entered,” O’Banion concludes. 6. Revenue: achieve all of the above principles at cost parity or cost savings. At the Packaging SVN meeting 7. Read: Get educated on sustainability and how we can all support it. in December, Wal-Mart announced 40 • FOOD PROCESSING FEbRuaRy 2008 a significant change in one of the scorecard’s core calculations. Initially, the scorecard evaluated the ratio of the amount of packaging material to the amount of product in the packaging, both measured by weight. But that approach didn’t accurately convey the sustainability of certain product/package combinations. Consider a concentrated product formulated to weigh less than a non-concentrated competitive product but which provides the same number of servings as the competitor. Under the old calculations, the product-to-package weight ratio did not reward the concentrated product for its smaller eco-footprint. “Based on the old system, that package would have received a worse score based on product/packaging ratio,” says Jeff Wooster, senior value chain manager at The Dow Chemical Co. (http://plastics.dow.com/plastics/na) in Houston. To remedy the problem, Wal-Mart replaced the productweight metric with the Consumer Meaningful Unit of Measure (CMUM). A CMUM refers to one serving, portion or use of the product. The revised calculation measures the amount of packaging per CMUM. This modification to a key scorecard calculation “indicates the willingness of Wal-Mart to listen to input from their suppliers and their desire to get it right – to have a system that works and does what they want it to,” Wooster says. WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.sustainabilityeducation.com http://plastics.dow.com/plastics/na http://www.fibrebox.org http://www.fibrebox.org http://www.foodprocessing.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Food Processing - February 2008

Food Processing - February 2008 Contents Editor’s Plate NewsBites Regulatory Issues The Trends Rollout Food Biz Kids Product Spotlight Ingredients From Where? Product Development RCA Show Review Plant Operations Packaging New Supplier Products Toops Scoops

Food Processing - February 2008

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