Wal-Mart, ECRM offer vendor training for sustainable-packaging scorecard

CLEVELAND For any large retailer, reducing 5 percent of packaging in a supply chain that crosses the planet by 2013 is hard enough, but what about the vendors?

Wal-Mart announced the creation of a sustainable-packaging scorecard in November 2006 and implemented the system in February. As of Jan. 30, more than 97,000 products had been added to it.

Now, its partner in the effort and developer of the scorecard software, Efficient Collaborative Retail Marketing, is offering a training program for vendors interested in learning how to use the scorecard. Certified Packaging Professionals and MARSpkg will teach the courses.

The program is available as a class on Aug. 17 in Marco Island, Fla., and as a video and manual on the Web site, www.sustainability-education.com. The program teaches vendors how to enter items onto the scorecard and also improve the environmental sustainability of their packaging.

In addition, Wal-Mart Package Modeling, at www.packagemodeling.com, allows companies to determine how changing packaging, suppliers and designs can affect their scores. ECRM MarketGate Packaging Source, at www.packaging.marketgate.com, hooks manufacturers up with companies that sell sustainable packaging.