Discounters wrap up plans to recycle packaging - Retailing & the Environment

Discount Store News, August 17, 1992 by Jill Lettich

Retailers have formulated new packaging guidelines for vendors in an attempt to further the environmental cause.

These guidelines are part of a larger environmental story where the focus of many retailers has been turned toward in-house recycling programs and standards.

Manufacturers are simplifying their own packaging and increasingly using post-consumer recycled packaging materials. The programs initiated by various retailers impact the distribution side of the business and the shoppers.

The packaging programs are another example of efforts that consumers don't necessarily see, but may benefit from in the end.

Marty Shaw of Rock-Team Co., a packaging company in Norcross, Ga., noted that more of his customers, Fisher-Price among them, require documentation about raw materials and recycled packaging sold to them. And they are using more of the recycled matter.

But Rock-Tenn's customers--the company is a diversified packaging company that recycles about 700 tons of paperboard a year--are not the only ones asking questions and setting guidelines.

"The customers of packaging companies like Rock-Tenn were traditionally manufacturers," he noted. "Now the industry wants and looks to retailers for input."

Not surprisingly, industry-leader Wal-Mart is one of the retailers that is looked to for guidance. Shaw reports that Wal-Mart "isn't a trendsetter, but it is a pacesetter."

In the environmental arena, Wal-Mart is taking a leadership role by building a state-of-the-art environmental store in Lawrence, Kan. slated to open in February 1993.

In addition to skylights designed to save on energy costs, and a larger array of environmetally sound products on its shelves, one of the features of the store will be a series of recycling bins for product packaging.

Shoppers will be encouraged to discard extra packaging material from the items they buy at the point-of-purchase.

Shaw admits that the "not so subtle" marketing that comes with good package design could be challenged if this and other similar programs are put in place. In addition, he admits that other factors could impede the process.

"If it's raining, people may not want to take the merchandise out of its package. In addition, certain packaging is not decorative, but is actually used for protection as in computer packaging," he noted.

For some products, instructions are also part of the outside package and could be another reason that full use will not be made of those bins.

Of course, in an areas as expansive and issue-sensitive as the environment, even the smallest efforts are looked upon favorably. And it may spur new package designs in the market.

European retailers are a step ahead of their American counterparts when it comes to instore package recycling. For instance, at Radio Diehl, a consumer electronics chain in Germany, customers are given a bag smaller than the CD long boxes they buy, almost forcing them to take out the CD and throw the box, which is reused by the store, into a bin.

In the United States, retailers continue to deal more effectively with the packaging issue at headquarters and in the distribution center. They are starting to set standards for packages that end up on their shelves, but with as little effort possible from consumers.

Sears has one of the most extensive programs. A letter went to its vendors more than two years ago specifying some basic guidelines.

The primary short-term directives were: to reduce the volume and weight of a product's packaging material by 1992; and to increase the use of recycled materials in corrugated containers to 25% by 1992.

According to Keith Tice, national director for packaging and labeling at Sears, these goals will all be met by the end of the year along with a projected savings of $5 million: a result of reducing the volume of packaging coming through the distribution system.

One specific program with Sears' Craftsman label took individual tools out of boxes and blister-packs and displayed them openly on peg-like fixtures in the stores. This display system for Craftsman Tools is currently in all of Sear's 860 store. It eliminates an estimated 78 tons of plastic annually from the waste stream.

Target Stores has also worked to establish packaging guidelines. A questionnaire sent to all vendors includes questions such as "Could the product be sold without a package?" and "Can a different mode of shipment of the product be used without compromising product protection, while reducing packaging by weight or volume?"

Ann Aronson, environmental program manager, Target, points out that "answers to the questions will must often be subjective." However, an introduction to the questionnaire notes that "for every answer that suggests a negative effect on the environment, there should be concrete reasons why the packages causes this effect. These must then be reviewed to determine if the negative impact on the environment is unavoidable or if changes can be made to lessen or remove it."

Certain questions also come with suggestions. "Is the package primarily of one material?" comes with a follow-up statement informing vendors that one-material recycling is usually easier.