Lucky Buddha Beer Goes Green with Sustainable Displays in Walmart
Sustainable Point-of-Purchase Displays made with ECOR advance Walmart’s collaborations with vendors to encourage sustainable practices and products
Tuesday, February 10, 2015, Carlsbad, CA – In April 2014, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.’s president and CEO Doug McMillon invited top executives fro
m major suppliers to the company’s Sustainable Product Expo and challenged them to collaborate to explore more sustainable practices and products. Commitments 
were made by a number of suppliers, and among those commitments were goals to advance standards for more sustainable in-store marketing materials and point-of-purchase displays.
Walmart, Lucky Buddha Beer and Noble Environmental collaborated to create sustainable end-cap displays made with ECOR®, which will be placed in select Walmart stores. Lucky Buddha Beer is the second fastest growing import beer brand in supermarkets in the United States.[1]
“In 2005, Walmart took on the three aspirational sustainability goals that encompass all areas of our operations and products, including energy, waste and sustainable products,” said Manuel Gomez, vice president of Sustainability for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. “Since those goals were communicated, we’ve aggressively worked to address waste in our own operations as well as in the products we sell and associated packaging. That’s why we’re pleased Lucky Buddha Beer has worked with Noble Environmental Technologies to develop this sustainable point-of-purchase display that will appear in select U.S. Walmart stores, which will support our commitment to reach zero waste to landfill by 2025 in our operations.”
ECOR is an advanced sustainable building material that was developed by Noble Environmental Technologies and the United States Department of Agriculture to be non-toxic, VOC-free, made from 100% recycled materials and is 100% certified bio-based to be used as an alternative for traditional wood, plywood, corrugated and plastics. Traditional displays in the retail environment are made from corrugated cardboard, they fray quickly, require replacement often, while displays made from ECOR could last over a year without breaking down or fraying; an ongoing challenge for most traditional display materials.
“We are thrilled to be working hand in hand with Walmart to showcase Lucky Buddha Beer inside their stores on what we believe is a sustainable and durable flat-pack point-of-purchase display,” said Kevin Swadish, CEO of Sage Beverages.
“Walmart’s focus on supply chain sustainability makes ECOR an excellent material for Lucky Buddha Beer to use on this store display rollout,” said Robert Noble, Founder and CEO of Noble Environmental Technologies. “Walmart has done a stellar job in establishing and measuring achievement of sustainability goals, and increasing recycling practices. By suppliers integrating ECOR into the supply chain for displays like Lucky Buddha Beer, there is an opportunity to further reduce material use, logistic costs and carbon footprint. Furthermore, ECOR displays enable efforts to close-the-loop for waste, and are designed to be converted into ECOR and other recycled materials at the end of their lifecycle.”
Tom, Kandris, CEO of PackageOne, Inc., an innovative manufacturer of Corrugated Displays and Packaging said “PackageOne is very excited to be able to work with ECOR. The material properties enable designs and configurations unimaginable with traditional display materials. ECOR, and hybrid ECOR and corrugated displays, provide elegance and durability in ways that corrugated alone cannot.”
About Lucky Buddha Beer
Lucky Buddha Beer (www.Luckybuddhabeer.com) is brewed at the Thousand Island Lake, fusing the finest quality malt, hops, rice and water from this pristine region delivering a lager beer that is truly an enlightened brew. Lucky Buddha is imported by Sage Beverages (www.sagebeverages.com), headquartered in Carlsbad, CA.
[1] Based on IRI Advantage data for the year ending November 23, 2014.