Food Processing - February 2008 - (Page 42)

Wal- Mart PaCK aGING as part of its environmental initiatives, Wal-Mart is outfitting some freezer cases with motion-sensitive, high-efficiency LED lighting. Helpful resources Wal-Mart is encouraging its suppliers to work closely with packaging vendors to evaluate their packaging’s sustainability and to develop modifications that will earn them a better score. Several packaging materials vendors have programs in place, or in development, that address sustainability and help identify packaging inefficiencies and excesses. Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific LLC (www. gp.com) offers the Packaging Systems OptiMORE ON thE WEb mization (PSO) program, which is geared to Diamond Packaging’s Greenbox Initiative promotes sustainability in all aspects of reducing waste, lowering costs and improving package design and production and incorporates tools such as Wal-Mart’s Package sustainability across the packaging supply Modeling software: www.FoodProcessing.com/diamondgreen. chain. The company recently opened up the PSO program to non-customers. Community Energy (www.newwindenergy.com) and its parent Iberdrola PSO (www.gppso.com) evaluates a comtry to increase demand for renewable energy, especially through the construcpany’s entire packaging system to find areas tion of new wind farms. and while it’s aimed at consumers, you can calcufor improvement. Results can be used to optilate your carbon footprint by using the group’s carbon emissions calculator at: mize nine areas of the supply chain, including www.FoodProcessing.com/EnvCalculator. package design, SKU consolidation, materials handling and distribution. The net result is For a peek into Wal-Mart’s corporate philosophies on sustainability and envigreater sustainability via reduced greenhouse ronmental issues (“Find out why we’re committed to protecting our environment, gas emissions and lower energy use, which in and how it actually makes good business sense”), go to www.FoodProcessing.com/ turn are the result of reductions in fiber use, WalmartStores and click on “Environment.” Food processors should note the retailtransportation and warehousing. er’s thinking on “developing creative ways to package the products” and why “we “When you match those nine PSO eledon’t think you should have to pay more for earth-friendly products.” ments to the Wal-Mart scorecard drivers 42 • FOOD PROCESSING FEbRuaRy 2008 such as greenhouse gas emissions and material value, there’s a good portion of the scorecard that goes right to those nine elements,” says George D’Urso, Innovation Institute operations manager at Georgia-Pacific. He adds, “One thing that came out clearly in the last SVN meeting [in December] was that if you want to impact your score, the single, largest low-hanging fruit is source reduction. And PSO hits that mark square on.” In the plastic-packaging market, Dow Chemical plans to launch an automated package-sustainability evaluation system, perhaps as early as the first quarter of 2008. The system would enable companies to easily analyze and evaluate various packaging alternatives. In November, Diamond Packaging (www.diamondpkg. com), Rochester, N.Y., announced its sustainable packaging program, called the Diamond Greenbox Initiative. The initiative promotes sustainability in all aspects of package production and aims to minimize environmental impact throughout the supply chain. Diamond’s design process incorporates tools such as Wal-Mart’s Package Modeling software and ArtiosCAD for structural design. Wal-Mart, together with ECR M (www.ecrm-online. com) and ECR M corporate affiliate Thumbprint Ltd. (www.ithumbprint.com), both based in Solon, Ohio, created the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Package Modeling software. The software, which is available on a subscription basis, enables companies to model how changes in materials and processes can improve packaging scores and reduce environmental impact. Wal-Mart’s participation in the development of modeling software demonstrates the retailer’s commitment to simplifying the scorecard process for suppliers and their packaging vendors. “I think Wal-Mart has done an admirable job in trying to make a very complex system into something that’s plugand-play, fill out the lines and get a score at the end,” says D’Urso. “It’s a significant step forward in that regard. It has taken sustainability very much mainstream.” WWW.FOODPROCESSING.COM http://www.diamondpkg.com http://www.diamondpkg.com http://www.ecrm-online.com http://www.ecrm-online.com http://www.ithumbprint.com http://www.gp.com http://www.gp.com http://www.FoodProcessing.com/diamondgreen http://www.newwindenergy.com http://www.gppso.com http://www.FoodProcessing.com/EnvCalculator http://www.FoodProcessing.com/WalmartStores http://www.FoodProcessing.com/WalmartStores 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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