Walmart joins GreenerPackage.com in new product database

Walmart Stores, Inc. and its Packaging Scorecard software provider ECRM have tapped GreenerPackage.com to serve as the entry point for packaging material suppliers wishing to add their sustainable product data for use in Walmart’s Packaging Scorecard Modeling software. Upon launch of the Greener Package Database, product information submitted to the site will not only be available to GreenerPackage.com visitors, but it will also feed ECRM’s MarketGate™ application suite, maintained for Walmart’s private use with its modeling software.

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White paper: Sustainable packaging suppliers: Where is your next lead coming from?In the following exclusive interview with GreenerPackage.com managing editor Anne Marie Mohan, Sam’s Club director of packaging Amy Zettlemoyer-Lazar discusses the agreement and the new Greener Package Database in more depth.

GP: Why did Walmart decide to ask ECRM to merge its database with Greener Package?
AZL: ECRM initially created MarketGate as a virtual trade show to support our Sustainable Packaging Expo by housing the packaging suppliers’ sustainability information. Greener Package has a broad audience of packaging professionals who may find this information useful, and therefore, merging the two seemed like a good fit of information and an audience.

GP: What are the benefits of this database to packaging suppliers?
AZL: With the Greener Package Database, packaging suppliers will have one place to post their company information, and it establishes a uniform way to talk about their packaging materials, their components, and any environmental claims associated with both.

GP: What are the benefits of this database to your product suppliers, i.e., consumer packaged goods companies?
AZL: CPG companies can use the database as a source to find more sustainable materials and packages, which ultimately provides our customers and members with more choices. Walmart Stores, Inc. holds an annual Sustainable Packaging Expo in Rogers, Arkansas, and this database allows suppliers who can’t travel to the exposition access to the same information year-round. Because it doesn’t require travel, the virtual trade show also provides an opportunity for us as a company to provide low-cost innovation.

GP: Can you explain how the data in the Greener Package Database will link to the Walmart Packaging Scorecard Modeling software?
AZL: The modeling software is currently used to compare packages for multiple environmental metrics. When the user makes material selections for comparison within the software, the product information is visible. So the system provides suggestions for packaging suppliers that can help improve their modeling score. For those product suppliers that are interested, when they compare their packages, they have a direct link to those packaging suppliers who can help them make that improvement.

For Walmart, it’s really important right now to push better packaging and more sustainable choices because Americans are being very thoughtful about the purchases they make. It’s really important to make sure that we are continuing to drive waste and inefficiencies out of the business, which is why more sustainable packaging plays a good role in that goal for us as a company.

At Walmart, efficiencies and sustainability go hand-in-hand. So our motto is really “Save money. Live better.” At Walmart, we are providing value through our products, and that value translates into quality and more sustainable products and more sustainable packaging. So we are driving more efficient products and more efficient packaging, and making better material selections, and that has a direct link into more choices and better-value products for our customers and members.

GP: The Greener Package Database will provide suppliers with the opportunity to have their product claims reviewed by a third party. Can you explain why this is important?
AZL: The Document Review process will verify that the information that the packaging supplier is sharing is being reported using industry-standard terminology, making sure that claims are being made in a similar manner across multiple suppliers. So when a CPG company looks at the site, they understand what’s being claimed, and there is no confusion between the way one supplier may make that claim versus another supplier making that claim. It’s important to verify what statements are being made or what claims are being made and how they could be interpreted by the CPG customer or a retailer. Then ultimately, those claims can be passed on to our customers or members. So we want to make sure that at the start they are accurate.

GP: Can you talk about the how the Document Review process will address greenwashing and bogus claims by suppliers?
AZL: We found that some of the guidelines out there may be confusing to packaging suppliers. There is potential for misunderstanding that the Federal Trade Commission Green Guides pertain to all marketing claims. They are not only marketing claims to the consumers paying for a product that’s in a package, but they are also meant for business-to-business marketing claims.

And so, the Document Review process will ensure that when the product supplier makes an environmental claim, they have done the tests to back that claim up. Or, that they can prove that the material is being recycled as per the FTC guidelines. There has been a lot of confusion in this space in the last couple of years, and it has the potential to lead to greenwashing. Greenwashing is a concern because we really want to make sure that we are communicating accurate information to our customers and members, and we want to be sure that they have better information to make better purchasing decisions.

In general, we are basing the Document Review on the FTC Green Guides and strict interpretation of those guidelines.

GP: Can you give some examples of how claims of biodegradability or recyclability might be reviewed?
AZL: Sure! The claim of compostability would actually need to have a test report from a lab stating that it has actually been tested and meets the requirements of the testing outlined in ASTM D6400 or D6868 pending the material. For recyclability, that would be based on the package type.

Some things in order to be claimed for recyclability must be able to be recycled or collected in a significant majority of municipalities. That doesn’t mean that it’s capable of mechanically being recycled. So that’s where there has been a big difference. If a supplier is making a claim that their package is recyclable, then they must talk about the actual packaging components that are being collected. There are several studies and reports that show what is being collected across the United States that are going to be used to verify that claim.

So suppliers need to talk in detail if they are using a PET bottle. Does it use color or not? If it’s glass, what type of glass is it? Based on the packaging components and the FTC guidelines and several reports, a decision will be made whether that really meets being able to be collected in a significant majority of municipalities.

GP: Do you know what a significant majority is?
AZL: I have heard some numbers, but it would need to be above 51% and around 60%. But that is not outlined, to my knowledge, in the FTC guidelines.

GP: Originally the Greener Package Database was going to focus on questions pertaining more to the environmental impact of a product, but the merger with ECRM brings far more data points with extensive performance data. Can you explain what the benefits are of having one database for both performance and environmental data?
AZL: The benefit is that suppliers don’t make decisions based on one or the other. If you have a packaging material or a packaging component that is more sustainable but doesn’t perform, then it really doesn’t meet all the requirements of the marketplace. It’s very similar to when our customers and members come to Walmart and Sam’s Club; they are looking for a more sustainable product that meets all of their expectations in performance. So it’s important to have both together because decisions cannot be made on one area without considering the other. Walmart is recommending that when you look at performance data, you also look at environmental areas of the product and vice versa.

GP: What is the benefit to suppliers who pay to have their data reviewed? How will it affect how their data is displayed in the database?
AZ: Packaging suppliers who pay the fee to have their data go through the Document Review process will have the benefit of having it clearly identified in the database that they have gone through the review process and that their packaging material or packaging component meets the requirements to make all the claims. Whereas, if the supplier does not go through the audit, it will be clearly identified in the database that they have not provided documents to prove this claim. It doesn’t mean that the packaging does not meet the claim, but that those claims haven’t been verified. And so it will be clearly identified if the product has been reviewed or not reviewed in the database.

As a result, after August 1, 2009, the modeling software will not show a link to any packaging suppliers that have not gone through the Document Review process.

GP: I would think that the Document Review process is something that packaging suppliers would almost need to have done anyway if they are going to be selling their products based on environmental benefits. What are your thoughts?
AZL: The Document Review helps to substantiate their claims and helps to give them credibility. I think it will be a benefit to those packaging suppliers in that they won’t have to worry about establishing credibility with every product supplier that they are trying to sell to. They will have been able to do it once in the database and can refer to that Document Review to show that they have provided the compostability claims or the recyclability claims, and that it has been reviewed by a third party. Instead of every one of their customers having to verify that information, they can double-check on the Web site themselves and feel confident on the level of Document Review.

It’s also due diligence to make sure that the application the CPG is selecting meets the requirements, but it is a nice first pass to make sure that it is by starting with the verification. Definitely every package is customized for the product and for the customer. So it’s important that after that customization, any claims that they are making on the label are also verified.

GP: Any final thoughts on the new agreement and on the future of the Greener Package Database?
AZL: In my opinion, the database is nice because it takes the Sustainable Packaging Expo every year and makes it year-round. It also helps our product suppliers, our customers, and our members find better products and better options. It makes that information more accessible, and it is not going to require as much travel or as much investigation upfront. So it opens innovation to a whole new group of people.

GP: Although Walmart is gearing the database information toward its suppliers, the database can help move everyone ahead. It isn’t only available to people who are working with Walmart. It’s available to anyone who is interested in making positive changes in their packaging, correct?
AZL: Right! To make packaging more sustainable, in many instances, you need economy and scale. So having a package that only works for one retailer may not be the right solution for a more sustainable package. So it is important that other retailers, even our competitors, have the visibility to these suppliers as well. While Walmart wants to lead with innovation, it is definitely important to have other competitors have access to the same information.

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Propel streamlines bottle, message

PepsiCo has introduced lighter-weight, eco-friendly packaging in a new bottle for Propel fitness water.

Supporting PepsiCo's continued leadership in sustainability, Propel utilizes 33% less plastic than the previous 500-mL bottle and 30% less label material. The new packaging easily can be produced with both the new cold-fill technology developed for manufacturing, primarily in the U.S., and also the conventional hot-fill system often used internationally.

The Propel bottle's design elements not only convey the brand image but also allow a look and feel of greater rigidity to a bottle with thinner walls. To appeal more to the brand's core female consumer, the bottle was redesigned with a smaller opening.

"Using dynamic, uplifting-form elements throughout the bottle, we reinforced a theme of water in motion with a sense of energy reflecting the Propel brand," says Stuart Leslie, 4sight president. "We created swooping lines of varying thicknesses in an uplifting visual motion that travel from the lower left to the upper right in the midsection."

Another advantage of the design is how it enhances the grip. The groove under the label and pinched sides at the lower third area of the bottle give the consumer a sense of security while drinking the beverage during exercising or walking.


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Bottled Water Companies Unfairly and Inequitably Targeted by Mayors

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) today passed Resolution 62, misleadingly titled “Ensuring Fair and Equitable Use of and Compensation for Municipal Water Systems,” at its annual meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.
The resolution sets a one-year period to conduct a “study” to measure the amount of tap water specifically used by bottled water companies (prior to further purification) and “how cities can be appropriately compensated for that use.” according to the resolution. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and its member bottling companies support a strong, U.S. municipal water infrastructure. However, the USCM resolution is not in the public interest. “By singling-out bottled water, which is a very small user of the public water system, USCM fails to address the totality of the water infrastructure challenges, which should be everyone’s responsibility,” said Tom Lauria, vice president of communications at IBWA.

Thousands of companies use municipal water systems in their businesses. At present, all commercial municipal public water system users pay a pre-determined rate for the use of water in manufacturing, energy production, food and beverage production, sanitation, and myriad other uses.

USCM Resolution 62 also erroneously claims “bottled water is a non-essential use of an essential shared public resource.” Bottled water is a safe, healthy beverage that consumers find refreshing and use to stay hydrated. Be it from the tap or a bottle, water used for primary human hydration is the essence of life. Efforts by some mayors to discourage the use of bottled water are not the public interest.

Resolution 62 also fails to point out that bottled water produced from municipal water sources must, for example, meet FDA’s specific definitions and standards. No public water system meets the FDA standards for purified water (one of the most common bottled water types made with municipal sourcing) without further purification and treatment.

The issue of bottled water was also considered by the USCM last year. In fact,
Mayor Don Robart of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who is vice chair of the USCM’s Environmental Committee with oversight of Resolution 62, stated at the USCM’s 2008 meeting that “[b]ottled water does not in any way burden the
public water infrastructure and, comprising 1/80th of 1 percent of municipal water use, is simply one of thousands of legitimate uses of public water… .”

Also at the 2008 USCM meeting, Mayor Robart and Mayor Patrick McCrory of Charlotte, North Carolina, submitted a resolution that stated: “The U.S. Conference of Mayors recommends to its members that municipal water systems seek to work in a coalition with a broad range of interests to develop fair and equitable policies and rate structures to renew the nation’s water infrastructure and ensure the safe and efficient treatment of distribution of water to private and commercial customers.” Although their resolution was not adopted, the two mayors offered a clear and coherent roadmap to provide for a much-needed overhaul of the U.S. water and sewer infrastructure.

IBWA supports comprehensive environmental conservation policies but strongly believes that any efforts to protect and rebuilding the U.S. water infrastructure must focus on all industries and consumer goods, and not just one industry.

This article was provided courtesy of the International Bottled Water Association. To see more please go to www.bottledwater.org

Water in a clear, sculpted bottle “hints” at better taste

In a campaign launching its new, premium “essence” water with a “Drink Water, Not Sugar” slogan, Hint, Inc., San Francisco, hopes to deliver healthy refreshment across North America. In October, the company announced plans to expand distribution of its message and award-winning bottled water throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Against a backdrop of sodas and fruit punches redeployed as “energy drinks” and “vitamin waters,” Hint Water arrives with the idea that “water just tastes better.” Packaged in a proprietary plastic bottle, the water is described as light, refreshing and not sweet. Natural essences infused into the water deliver on the promise of Hint's outstanding packaging—refreshing great taste, “without the junk.”

The beverage was inspired by a family favorite: ice-cold water with a slice of fresh fruit. The trick was figuring out how to deliver that experience on-the-go, in a variety of flavors, without adding preservatives, calories, juice or anything else.

Hint is offering nine water flavors said to deliver refreshment without a sugary aftertaste. They are available in Mango-Grapefruit, Pomegranate-Tangerine, Lime, Raspberry-Lime, Peppermint, Pear, Tropical Punch, Cucumber and Strawberry Kiwi, with seasonal fan favorites appearing from time to time. Each 16-oz bottle sells for $1.79, with 24-bottle cases available for $44.00. Hint can be found at fine grocery stores and retailers across the country.

This article was provided courtesy of packagingdigest.com

USDA Chooses “Green” Bottled Water Brand for Headquarters

Naturally Iowa, a manufacturer and distributor of value-added bottled spring water and dairy products, announced that its innovative Green Bottle Spring Water has been chosen for all food service locations at the national headquarters of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The federal agency, with over 112,000 employees, oversees all of the nation's agricultural programs as well as nutrition programs, research and efforts to preserve America's farmland.

Green Bottle Spring Water meets specifications for quality and environmental sustainability and has been granted the status of "BioPreferred Supplier." The sustainable bottle is made from U.S. corn, not foreign petroleum.

"We founded Naturally Iowa to build a truly sustainable company," said Bill Horner, a native Iowa farmer, agriculture entrepreneur and CEO of Naturally Iowa, Inc. "The sustainable INGEO bottle and its environmental benefits are key to achieving our goal of using only 100% sustainable and renewable resources for our packaging. Additionally, the INGEO bottle uses significantly less energy to produce, reducing the carbon footprint of our products. But most of all, consumers find our spring water, which is bottled at Grand Springs Organic Farm in Alton, Virginia to be an excellent and refreshing alternative to the standard PET bottled spring waters currently on the market. The success of Green Bottle Spring Water in our nation's capital with key governmental agencies provides us with many opportunities and new avenues for growth over the next several years."

Instrumental to the success of Green Bottle Spring Water with the federal agency is its "BioPreferred" government supplier status, a designation granted only to select products meeting an extensive set of strict guidelines for environmental sustainability. Green Bottle Spring Water(TM) uses the unique, plant-based INGEO bottle from NatureWorks LLC, a breakthrough package made from U.S. corn rather than foreign petroleum. Unlike older-style plastic bottles, the INGEO bottle is fully compostable.

Previously, the House of Representatives designated Naturally Iowa's Green Bottle Spring Water as the only bottled water available in the House Cafeteria, the Longworth Cafe. This Cafeteria has access to a well-developed industrial compost system developed by the United States Department of Agriculture. The composting system fits perfectly with Naturally Iowa's criteria for placing their bottles in "Closed Loop" environments, where there is a plan to collect all empty bottles and return them to nature. Green Bottle Spring Water was selected by the House of Representatives as part of the "Green Capital Initiative."

Naturally Iowa uses Norland equipment to produce this earth friendly product

Water in a retro bottle

Summit Spring, which obtains water from one of the oldest and most revered free-flowing springs in North America, has unveiled modernized packaging that it says pays homage to the storied heritage of the spring. The amber longneck bottle, which looks more like a glass bottle for beer, features a label dating back to the company's roots. “The limited-edition, retro-glass bottle reminds consumers of the roots of Summit Spring, one of the purest natural water resources in the world for centuries,” relates president N. Bryan Pullen. The company's history has long been an integral part of its marketing and bottling components, and the new bottle teams a contemporary edge while also maintaining the historic value behind Summit Spring. T. Doc Creative Design (w.tdocdesign.com) took the record of the brand into consideration when it redesigned the gold label with its iconic eagle. The pressure-sensitive label, which is supplied by Lion Labels (www.lionlabels.com), is flexo-printed in six colors.
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Half-liter Aquafina lightens up

Beginning in April, PepsiCo's Aquafina brand bottled water will be available nationwide in the new Eco-Fina Bottle, the lightest 0.5-L bottle of any nationally distributed bottled water brand in the market, according to PepsiCo. At a weight of just 10.9 g, the Eco-Fina Bottle is made with 50% less plastic than the 0.5-L Aquafina bottles produced in 2002, eliminating an estimated 75 million lb of plastic annually.

“The Eco-Fina Bottle represents more than simply innovative packaging design. It showcases our commitment to develop best-in-class products, packages, and manufacturing processes while acting responsibly in everything we do,” says Rick Gomez, chief marketing officer, hydration brands at Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “We're excited to answer the call of our consumers by offering the same great-tasting, pure water in a much lighter and more eco-friendly 100% recyclable bottle.”

The new Eco-Fina Bottle features an eye-catching “rippled web” design that goes beyond aesthetics, ensuring its structural soundness and functionality. New, contemporary shrink-wrap packaging graphics, featuring the Eco-Fina Bottle logo, will further enhance the brand's on-shelf presence.

“Consumer research confirms that we achieved our desired objective, which was a ‘sustainable design trifecta' – a bottle that looks better, functions better, and is better for the environment,” says Robert Le Bras-Brown, vice president of packaging innovation and development at PepsiCo. “The new design leverages structural engineering that allows the Eco-Fina Bottle to support 50 times its weight in water while offering consumers a contemporary, attractive package that meets their needs.”

Related sustainability initiatives
PepsiCo reports that it continues to explore newer ways to achieve optimal efficiency in the use of natural resources in the development, manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of all of its products. The company has committed to lowering its environmental impact by reducing the use of water and energy by 20% and the use of fuel by 25% by 2015.

In 2007, the company conserved nearly 5 billion liters of water across its global operations compared to 2006 through technological improvements in global manufacturing operations and resource conservation programs. Last year, PepsiCo took nearly 6 million kilograms of packaging per year out of its system globally and reduced greenhouse emissions by 18,000 metric tons annually by introducing a new 0.5-L bottle for Aquafina flavored waters.

PepsiCo is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index.

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