Call me
crazy, but I was relieved my phone could take a picture of kitty litter
at Sam’s Club. I don’t take a purse to Sam’s; just the card wallet in
one pocket, keys and phone in the other pocket of my jeans. Yesterday I
was on a mission for kitty litter when a great looking pallet of
stacked litter buckets caught my eye. It was a picture I wanted, but no
camera. Finally I used my phone for one of its “features.”

The point about the litter stack was the packaging. On March 3, I attended at the “Sustainability in Packaging Conference” in Orlando,
where representatives from large global corporations shared the
latest talk and technology on packaging for reducing green house gas
emissions, landfill waste and fuel consumption.

Last
year companies attending had the most interest in learning about how
the newly released Wal-Mart Scorecard would change their business. Back
in 2006, Wal-Mart launched its commitment to reduce by 5% the amount of
packaging passing through the retail behemoth’s global chain. The
scorecard would become the tool the company used to initiate change.
The metrics in the scorecard evolved from a list known as the “7 R’s of
Packaging”: Remove, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Renew, Revenue, and Read.

In
February of 2007, Wal-Mart distributed the scorecard to more than
60,000 of its suppliers worldwide. Last year in February 2008, they
began using the packaging scorecard to determine which suppliers would
continue in its supply chain. Determination was based upon a company’s
ability to use less packaging, use more effective materials in
packaging, and obtain these materials more efficiently.

How is it graded?
· 15% will be based on Green House Gas / CO2 per ton of Production
· 15% will be based on Material Value
· 15% will be based on Product / Package Ratio
· 15% will be based on Cube Utilization
· 10% will be based on Transportation
· 10% will be based on Recycled Content
· 10% will be based on Recovery Value
· 5% will be based on Renewable Energy
· 5% will be based on Innovation

What does the score mean?
Like
a student’s score on a standard achievement test, suppliers will
receive a score in each category that is measured against other
suppliers' performance. For example, a supplier may find it is in the
50th percentile for effectively using space in pallets and shipping
containers, but that same supplier may only be in the 20th percentile
in Recycled Content. This model gives suppliers the opportunity to
focus on specific changes that ultimately drive constant change and
improvement in the supply chain.

How did my purchase score?
Sam's Club, just in case you forgot, is the Wal-Mart sibling, so their products must meet the same criteria.  The
litter “cube” on the pallet in my store looked concisely packed to me,
although I’d like to see the scorecard percentile rating. Is this in
the 30 or 80 percentile when ranked with other kitty litter suppliers?

Large
containers of litter are not uncommon, but for other products, the
topic of bulk-sized container is a new aspect. How big can a jug of
liquid laundry detergent grow and still be usable? One container for a
larger amount is better than 4 smaller containers that require more
natural resources to create and more fuel to ship because the container
itself adds weight to the shipment.

On closer look, the recycle
number for the litter bucket is #5, which is Polypropylene. Many
recycling centers will not take #5. Hmm. How’d they rate on Recovery
Value?

Thanks to my phone I can share the photo. As for the
kitty litter - - I bought some. I rate it with one thumb up for being
chemical free, herbal scented, made of natural clay, and having
convenient bulk packaging. The thumb that’s not up is with the rest of
my fingers covering my nose while I cough from the dust.

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