2Sustain

In what some are calling a watershed moment in supply chain ethics, Nike, Inc. has agreed to provide financial, medical and vocational support to workers affected by closures at contract supplier factories in Honduras.

Nike announced late last month that it had reached an agreement with the Central General de Trabajadores de Honduras (CGT), representing the former employees of Hugger and Vision Tex factories, and as a result the company has agreed to: (more…)

Following similar news from other grocery retailers such as Walmart Canada and Metro, Delhaize America has announced last week that all of its supermarkets are now part of a new sustainable seafood program.

The new comprehensive seafood policy –which applies to all supermarkets in the chain, including Hannaford, Sweetbay, the Food Lion family of banners and Bottom Dollar Food — requires suppliers to verify that seafood is coming from sources managed for sustainability. It applies to all seafood in the stores, including fresh, frozen and packaged fish and shellfish. (more…)

In an effort to improve inventory accuracy and on-shelf availability, Walmart has reinvigorated its EPC radio frequency identification (RFID) program, this time focusing on specific men’s apparel (jeans, socks, undershirts and underwear).

Walmart has been working with suppliers of denim products and men’s basics for the past eight months to develop a process that enables suppliers to tag goods at the point of manufacture. That way, the suppliers can benefit from the program, as well, according to RFID Journal.

Once the apparel items are tagged, Walmart can use the RFID technology to get information at any one of a number of different destinations: at the loading dock, in the stock room, and on the sales floor, e.g. Pilots with this system show it improves inventory accuracy and on-shelf availability,  Myron Burke, Walmart’s director of store innovation and the person leading the retailer’s EPC program in the United States, said in the article. (more…)

Two leading non-profit sustainability institutions –the World Environment Center (WEC) and the Center for Corporate Sustainability Management at IMD –have joined forced to form a partnership that will assist global companies in implementing sustainable development in their business strategies and operations.

Announced last week, the new partnership aims to: (more…)

Last Wednesday, a day after Greenpeace released a new report airing fresh allegations that the Indonesian paper firm Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) is “wreaking environmental havoc” in rainforests and peatlands, French retail giant Carrefour announced that it has suspended sourcing of APP products.

APP is part of the Sinar Mas group, and the Greenpeace report, titled How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet, maintains that the paper company is destroying Indonesia’s rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands so that it can feed its Sumatran based pulp mills, which then export pulp and paper products to a variety retailers worldwide. (more…)