Recycling at It’s Best
Whether you approve of Wal-Mart or not, you have to appreciate their efforts to recycle, reduce, and reuse.
Wal-Mart has teamed with Pratt Industries to recycle corrugated waste from its stores into recycled boxes for its private-label pizza line. See video :WAL-MART Closes the loop
“We’ve totally and literally closed the loop using a retailer’s own boxes to go through our paper mill and then to make corrugated boxes out of those same boxes again,” said Myles Cohen, Pratt’s Recycling Division President. “Quite frankly, the program is groundbreaking. It’s the future.”
The genesis of the project began when Pratt was approached to help Wal-Mart improve the sustainability of its pizza boxes. Wal-Mart’s Director of Packaging Procurement – Private Brands, Chet Rutledge, had a vision to create a closed-loop operation utilizing old corrugated containers (OCC) from their stores. After receipt of the OCC, Pratt manufactures 100% Recycled Containerboard which is then converted at our Valparaiso, IN box plant into pizza boxes used to package pizzas prepared by Walmart’s partner, Great Kitchens of Illinois.
Rutledge had this to say about the initiative, “Innovation can often be found in the simplest of things. We encourage our supply partners to look for creative solutions that are efficient and effective. Being sustainable doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s as simple as looking for opportunities to be more efficient in all stages of the supply chain. By working together with our supply partners we can deliver the most cost effective products for our customers.”
Wal-Mart estimates this measure alone will save 8600 tons of waste from landfills. Additionally, it will reduce the need to consume the equivalent of 40 million gallons of water and 125,000 trees. Wal-Mart wants to reduce packaging in its global supply chain by 5 percent by 2013.
