Sustainable Procurement News

In the Amazon age, where it’s now easier than ever to get a product out onto the eCommerce stage, supply chain compliance can take on a whole new meaning. That’s because companies like Amazon and Walmart have their own stringent, unique requirements in supply chain management for manufacturers that deliver to their warehouses, from the types of packaging and labeling used to shipping notifications. Failure to comply with those requirements can be costly, and eat into already-thin margins for those manufacturers. Even worse, according to Justin Leigh, CEO of eCommerce service provider Ideoclick, many manufacturers fail to even realize they’re losing money because of supply chain defects

Supermarket giants Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Tesco have been named among the corporates leading the FTSE 100's drive for better compliance with the Modern Slavery Act (MSA), in a new ranking of the nation's largest publicly listed organisations.

European and U.S. fashion brands sourcing from Vietnam must stop their "harsh" tactics that push down workers' wages and trap millions in poverty, labour rights campaigners said on Thursday. Vietnam, which is one of the world's largest garment manufacturers and supplies fashion chains such as Zara and H&M, is home to over 6 000 garment and textile factories that employ about 3 million people, government figures showed.

Walmart has announced it will “enter into the beef industry” by developing an end-to-end Angus beef supply chain in the US. The retailer said it was responding to customer demand for a more transparent supply chain and it was working with “best-in-class companies”.

Target tied in to the April 22 designation of "Earth Day" by launching a line of sustainable, budget-friendly cleaning and household essentials.  Everspring encompasses 70 SKUs, including laundry detergent, candles, hand soap, paper towels, dish soap, and essential oils, that are biobased or made with recycled materials or natural fibers.

Target has built on initial climate goals from 2017  to set new targets to reduce CO2 generated from Target facilities, energy purchased to power Target facilities and emissions from the entire supply chain. Target introduced a reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2017 levels by 2030. It has also committed to ensuring that 80% of suppliers set their own science-based reduction targets by 2023 through increased use of renewable energy sources.

Many of the nation's largest retailers have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, a decision that could lead to savings on energy expenses. A recent report by the Carbon Disclosure Project estimated suppliers saved $19.3 billion annually as a result of emission reduction efforts.

Walmart has introduced a new wave of plastic waste reduction commitments and it will look to achieve these through its vast US supply chain ecosystem. The company announced the new commitments at its annual supplier forum this week and confirmed that it will affect more than 30,000 Stock Keeping Units (SKU) within Walmart’s portfolio. Walmart identified that it will focus heavily on its private brand packaging as it will look to encourage national brand suppliers to follow in its sustainable footsteps.

Retailers are missing out on gaining full control of their supply chain, according to new research released on Feb. 13 from Gravity Supply Chain Solutions. Eighty-five of U.S. retailers haven’t completed the digitization processes (using a cloud-based platform with real time visibility, and automation capabilities). “Clearly, the supply chain is the final frontier of retail digitization, and while retailers are anxious about the cost, not moving from manual spreadsheet-based supply chain management towards digitized processes could cost them a whole lot more.” says Graham Parker, CEO of Gravity Supply Chain Solutions.

Kroger further advances its ‘Zero Hunger, Zero Waste’ commitment by becoming one of the largest retailers to say good-bye to plastic. The company announced that it will phase out single-use plastic bags and transition to reusable bags across its family of stores by 2025. Seattle-based Quality Food Centers (QFC), a subsidiary of Kroger, will be the company's first retail division to phase out single-use plastic bags. The company expects QFC's transition to be completed in 2019.

Wegmans plans to reduce in-store plastic made from fossil fuels by 2 million pounds this year and seeks to eliminate 10 million pounds by 2024. The supermarket chain is targeting packaging and other single-use plastics. So far in 2019, Wegmans reports replacing plastic straws and drink stirrers with renewable fiber alternatives at all of their corporate work sites and 98 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

Supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths are facing pressure to boycott suppliers linked to the exploitation of migrant workers, amid a desperate push to address ongoing issues within the labour hire industry.

Walmart is partnering with HSBC to allow suppliers to apply for improved financing with the bank if they show progress under either Project Gigaton or the retailer's Sustainability Index Program.

Online fashion retailer PrettyLittleThing (PLT) has debuted a new collection made using recycled materials, including pre-consumer factory offcuts and recycled polyester derived from discarded plastic bottles.

Carrefour Belgium has announced that it has entered into a partnership with pork supplier Westvers, to improve the traceability and quality of its products. The collaboration will result in the implementation of blockchain technology in Westvers’ meat supply chain. It will allow consumers to learn about the origin of the meat, and its journey from the farm to the supermarket shelves by scanning a QR code on the packaging.

HSBC and Walmart today announced the roll-out of a sustainable supply chain finance programme that pegs a supplier’s financing rate to its sustainability performance. This global programme allows Walmart’s suppliers who demonstrate progress in Walmart’s Project Gigaton or Sustainability Index Program to apply for improved financing from HSBC based on their sustainability ratings.

Retailer Asda has announced that it has removed 6,500 tonnes of plastic from its own brand packaging since February 2018. The supermarket said that this marks a major step towards its ongoing commitment to reduce the quantity of plastic used in its product packaging. Asda has also taken steps to make its packaging more recyclable, including changing all of its fresh produce trays from black plastic to clear, as it moves towards making all of its packaging 100% recycled by 2025.    

UK supermarkets including Aldi, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose & Partners have joined together as Founding Sponsors of the Responsible Recruitment Toolkit (RRT) to offer expert, pragmatic support to their suppliers in order to achieve responsible recruitment in their supply chains. Recruitment and labour provision have been identified as presenting amongst the greatest worker exploitation risks in supply chains. In response, leading UK supermarkets have taken proactive action to collaborate as Founding Sponsors of ResponsibleRecruitmentToolkit.org, the pioneering one-stop, practical capacity building tool supporting businesses to embed responsible recruitment practices in their supply chains.

Online crafts retailer Etsy Inc will go green by offsetting planet-warming carbon emissions from its shipping activities, the U.S. company said on Wednesday, joining a host of companies making public moves to battle climate change. Etsy will buy clean energy certificates supporting tree conservation in the United States, wind and solar power in India and clean automotive technology, it said.

Starbucks has announced an initiative to design, build and operate 10,000 ‘Greener Stores’ globally by 2025, with wider aims to help the wider retail industry operate more sustainably. The ‘Starbucks Greener Stores’ framework is being set up to outline comprehensive performance criteria so that the design, building and operation of Starbucks’ locations will set new standards for ‘green retail’ – this will then be open sourced so that the wider retail community can benefit from the framework and work toward the standards. Developed with the help of experts such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), some key elements of the framework are set to include energy efficiency and water stewardship; renewable energy; healthy environment; responsible materials; waste diversion; and engagement (promoting a culture of sustainability).