Walmart plans to collect corrugated from the secondary packaging in its stores and recycle it into boxes for its own private-label Great Value brand pizza, reports the Dec. 15 issue of Packaging Strategies newsletter.
The retailer is working with Pratt Industries’ recycling division, which will convert the corrugated into pulp and reshape it into liner board. The board will undergo contaminant testing and then be remade into pizza boxes at Pratt’s facility in Conyers, Ga.
The move will keep 8,600 tons of corrugate waste from landfills and will save as much as 40 million gallons of water annually, the retailer estimates. The effort is said to be one of the largest initiatives in North America to reuse corrugated packaging. Walmart’s goal is to eliminate all packaging waste in its stores by 2025.
