Session: Packaging

An Approach to Measuring Toxicity for the Wal-Mart Scorecard
Rita Schenck,^* Institute for Environmental Research and Education

The Wal-Mart Sustainability Effort is evaluating the life cycle health and safety of its products. Starting with the packaging Sustainable Value Network, an indicator that can be broadly applicable for the diversity of Wal-Mart’s products is needed.

Several available toxicity models and databases were evaluated based on transparency, consensus development and ongoing support, and the PBT Profiler was chosen as the basis of the toxicological data to support the indicator.

The Wal-Mart toxicity model evaluates the persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity of any organic compound.

Toxicity Indicator = E x L/T x BCF

Where:

E = Life cycle emissions, grams/year (from submitted LCA data)

L = Media weighted lifetime in years (from PBT output)

T = LD-50 of Most sensitive organism, g/L (from PBT output)

BCF = Bioconcentration factor (from PBT output)

The indicator is produced in units of liters, which can be added across unit processes.

The PBT profiler does not produce information on metals, and these data will have to be separately produced, based on literature reviews.

We will present data showing the indicator results for example packaging materials in the U.S. LCI database.

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