Wal-Mart buyers start to use packaging scorecard

Matt Kistler, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of sustainability, said the scorecard would help the firm to make decisions that were "good for business, our customers and the environment". The company's goal is a 5% reduction in packaging by 2013.

The scorecard evaluates a pack's performance against nine criteria, including greenhouse gas emissions and product-to-package ratio, and suppliers in each product category can view how they rate against competitors.

Wal-Mart has said it will continue to verify the methodology behind the calculations during 2008, with a view to possibly refining them.

Asda, Wal-Mart's UK arm, has said it wants to roll out a UK version of the scorecard from early 2009.

The multiple has also claimed that packaging reduction would enable it to reduce the price of its own-brand products by a total of £10m in 2008.

Asda chief executive Andy Bond said that "every penny" saved as a result of packaging reduction would be passed back to customers, as part of its Green Rollbacks scheme, announced today (31 January).

Asda's packaging team will review all of its own-label products – some 500 lines – and, from May, the supermarket will lower the price of those goods that have had their packaging reduced.

The Green Rollbacks programme is part of the commitment to reduce own-label packaging by 25% by the end of this year.

Bond said: "Asda believes that going green should reduce the cost of living, not increase it."

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