Dive Brief:

• Wal-Mart revealed that staying green is still a priority at Tuesday's Sustainable Packaging summit, Packaging Digest reports.
• The latest initiative focuses on three key aspects of sustainable packaging: optimized design; source sustainability, and support for recycling.
• The retail giant plans to include recycling instructions on select Great Value and Equate products, in order to encourage consumers to participate in the green cycle.

Dive Insight:

With annual revenue surpassing $482 billiion last year, Wal-Mart can make or break a dependent supplier — and the company often uses its influences to drive rapid implementation of company policies, like RFID or sustainability.

It doesn't always work, as the costs of certain changes may place undue financial constraints on suppliers, but sustainable packaging through clear labeling is often a relatively painless shift that just requires clear communication with packagers (although these may be several tiers down). Every small action helps.

Improved design can also reduce waste through subtle changes that will drive the consumer to waste less: a recent survey by Packaging Digest found 1% of food is wasted due to ill-packaged or excessively packaged food. If optimized design is combined with clear instructions on how to recycle and more sustainable products, as Wal-Mart suggests, the ripple effect favors sustainability.