Walmart Hosts Fifth Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo

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On Wednesday, April 6 and Thursday, April 7, Walmart held its Fifth Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo in Bentonville, Ark., USA. The Expo is sponsored by the Walmart and Sam's Club Packaging Sustainable Value Network (SVN) and is designed to provide attendees with resources and information to learn about making product packaging more sustainable.

The expo included 186 booths consisting of packagers, packaging suppliers, trade associations and academia. More than 464 Sam's Club/Walmart associates were registered, as well as 1,742-plus product suppliers. The Expo also featured educational sessions that addressed the Sustainable Packaging Scorecard, environmental claims, transportation optimization strategies, recycling, paper packaging fundamentals, plastic packaging fundamentals, and sustainable packaging successes implemented at Walmart and Sam's Club. More than 4,700 seats were pre-registered to attend these sessions.

Members of Walmart's Packaging Sustainable Value Network (SVN) met on Thursday morning to re-emphasize Walmart's sustainability goals and receive updates on several on-going projects. SVN members were updated on the Global Packaging Project, Walmart's Supplier Sustainability Assessment, an update from the SVN subcommittee on Materials Metrics, and an update from the Packaging Scorecard Support Team (PSST).

TAPPI is active in Walmart's SVN, and TAPPI staff member Dr. Colleen Walker sits on the SVN Steering Committee and participates in their monthly conference calls.