What is Walmart doing to minimize packaging waste?

Our ambition is to accelerate a transition to 100% reusable, recyclable, or industrially compostable packaging. We have set a goal to achieve this ambition for Walmart private brand packaging by 2025 and are currently at 58%.

We are also working to use more sustainable inputs and have set the following goals to support this:

1. Achieve 20% post-consumer recycled content in Walmart’s private-brand product packaging in North America by 2025.
2. Achieve 17% post-consumer recycled content in Walmart’s private-brand product packaging globally by 2025.
3. Reduce Walmart’s virgin plastic footprint by 15% (vs. a 2020 baseline), including packaging and single-use plastic bags.
   

We encourage our suppliers to put recycling information on packaging. In the U.S., Walmart recommends the use of Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Recycle label® to communicate recyclability. These standardized packaging labels are designed to provide important information about what can and can’t be recycled – making it easier for our customers to participate. As of our 2021 reporting cycle, 80% of Walmart U.S. private brand food and consumables supplier-reported sales came from items carrying the How2Recycle label.

Additionally, we continue to urge our national brand suppliers to make similar packaging commitments through Project Gigaton^TM, our initiative to reduce or avoid one billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions from the global value chain by 2030. Since 2017, more than 4,500 suppliers have joined Project Gigaton^TM. The Project Gigaton^TM Packaging pillar encourages suppliers to optimize packaging design, source packaging materials sustainably and support recycling. We also partner with both private and national brands on identifying, testing and implementing scalable reusable packaging programs in stores and online.

You can read more about these efforts in the Waste: Circular Economy section of our ESG reporting site.