Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. plans to develop a worldwide sustainable product index that will establish a single source of data for evaluating the sustainability of products, according to a news release.

"Customers want products that are more efficient, that last longer and perform better," Mike Duke, Wal-Mart's president and chief executive officer, said during a meeting with 1,500 of the company's suppliers, associates and sustainability leaders at its home office.

"They want to know that the materials in the product are safe, that it was made well and that it was produced in a responsible way," he continued.

The company will introduce the initiative in three phases, beginning with a 15-question survey that will help its more than 100,000 suppliers worldwide evaluate their own sustainability efforts.

The questions, which can be viewed at walmartstores.com/milestone, will focus on four areas – energy and climate; material efficiency; natural resources; and people and community. Wal-Mart will ask its top U.S. suppliers to complete the survey by Oct. 1.

As a second step, the company is helping create a consortium of universities that will collaborate with suppliers, retailers, non-governmental organizations and government to develop a global database of information on the lifecycle of products. Wal-Mart has provided the initial funding for the Sustainability Index Consortium and invited all retailers and suppliers to contribute.

The final step will be to translate the information into a simple product sustainability rating for consumers. This will provide customers with the transparency into the quality and history of products that they don't have today, according to the news release.


(Written and/or edited by Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)

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