Sustainability: Sink Or Swim?
By Canadian Packaging Staff
Automation Packaging Scorecard Walmart CanadaQ: How highly does packaging sustainability rate at Wal-Mart Canada as a core corporate strategy?
A: Canadians care about the environment and are looking to companies like Wal-Mart to help drive and lead positive environmental change. In addition to competitive pricing and product quality, we believe that Canadian consumers are looking to shop with companies that carry environmentally-preferable products and that are taking steps to be better environmental stewards.
Q: What has been the bottom-line impact of Wal-Mart’s packaging sustainability initiative to date?
A: Even small changes to packaging can have an immense impact, not just on the environment, but on our business. When we use less packaging, we spend less on materials, ship less weight, and require less space in our stores.
At the same time, fewer trees are cut, less energy-intensive production occurs, and less waste is produced.
There is great alignment between environmental and business sustainability. Sustainable packaging changes are without a doubt worth the investment of time and money, as they are an important factor in helping Wal-Mart meet two of its sustainability goals: to produce zero waste and to offer our customers environmentally-preferable products.
Q: How much control to you expect to exert over your suppliers to get them to help you meet your company’s sustainability targets and benchmarks?
A: We need our suppliers to adopt sustainable packaging if we are to meet our ambitious sustainability goals. As a result, we’re working closely and diligently with them to encourage the use of and adoption of sustainable packaging.
We have held two sustainable packaging expositions to communicate our vision and goals to them and to introduce suppliers to sustainable packaging solutions.
We continue to share best practices with our vendors, and we plan to add resources to enable our buyers and vendors to find new ways to improve product packaging.
Q: Have you been able to realize any cost-savings brought about by your packaging sustainability initiatives?
A: We began capturing savings from the cost and volume perspectives last year, and are continuing to do so. In some cases, cost-savings are not immediately recognized, as there may be investment required in new equipment, but in the long run these savings will be passed along as these investments are amortized.
Even though cost reductions are not apparent with every decision, we are committed to improving the environment.
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