Sustainability is losing its meaning to me these days, as I hear it everywhere. At today’s Greener By Design conference, leaders from Wal-Mart, Sustainable Minds and Clear Standards discuss how they are translating the concept of “sustainability” into success metrics and tools that drive sustainable packaging, design and environmental impact reporting.
Rand Waddoups, senior director of business strategy and sustainability at Wal-Mart described Wal-Mart’s four part journey to sustainability, beginning with consensus building around need for sustainability, moving into an evangelist phase, and then to a clear recognition of the business case of sustainability. The fourth step, where they are headed today, is the ability to measure and track progress with sustainability metrics. They’ve found that suppliers that provide poor products are often also mistreating their employees, and cheating when it comes to factory compliance. So holding suppliers to a higher standard is good for business.
Waddoups explained how Wal-Mart’s packaging scorecard is driving sustainable change at Wal-Mart. The scorecard can be applied to every single product in Wal-Mart stores, and is actually sparking innovation in many suppliers. For example, Yoplait decided to revisit its package and totally redesigned its yogurt cups after they learned they were lagging their competitors on the scorecard.
And how do we communicate these messages and concepts to the every day consumer? As Waddoups explained, “Our average customer does not understand greenwashing…She is struggling to afford her principles.” Wal-Mart strives to give the consumer access to the information they need to make informed purchases, but, “We will not make progress on consumer products without much clearer data,” Waddoups stated.
