RESEARCH: Packaging Pro’s Rate Wal-Mart’s Scorecard
April 27, 2008 by LAUREN KERWAWYCZ and NEIL MILLER | Filed under: 1-The Impact of the Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard o
Packaging Pro’s Rate Wal-Mart’s Scorecard
Wal-Mart is big, very big. There is no denying it and many are aware that the retail giant is going to be making waves in industry. Wal-Mart may be taking on these sustainability initiatives to improve their image. Wal-Mart could also be genuinely committed to protecting the global environment. Many are taking stabs at the scorecard stating that there are many inconsistencies.
- Differing greenhouse gas measurements for North American and European suppliers.
- Combinations of different U.S. government data into the material types category.
- Requested data on transportation distances that offers no credit for making packaging at the point it is filled.
- Product-to-packaging ratios that discourage production of smaller portions and disregard market trends to reduce portion sizes.
- The way Wal-Mart analyzes recycled content in packaging, especially as it relates to current industry best practices with respect to food-safety issues.
- Recovery values that focus only on packaging that remains in Wal-Mart’s possession and differing standards for giving credit to North American and European suppliers.
- No credit to suppliers based on the amount of renewable energy (wind, water) used to produce packaging.
The scorecard is only one of 13 tools available to evaluate supplier performance. It has been viewed as a business management tool and will allow suppliers to proactively innovate and make products that are eco-friendly and cost-effective. The long terms benefits are obvious to many, and so are the short term disadvantages. The short term disadvantages include increased energy and raw materials costs for packagers.
Laruen,
That was a good site, it can be hard to understand score cards, especially when there are inconsistencies throughout the global market of a company. They might even be published to the advantage of the company, using the values that show a lower impact or higher involvement in the environmental aspects.