Supplier Evaluation

The first step to reaching sustainable procurement is selecting the right supplier partners and ensuring alignment between our sustainable mission and our suppliers’ practices. Our supplier due diligence process includes requests for specific information on their environmental, social, and governance practices and an evaluation of the responses. We ensure our suppliers’ alignment with our socio­environmental expectations through the TricorBraun Supplier Code of Conduct and by integrating ESG clauses into our supplier contracts.

Continuous monitoring of our suppliers’ sustainability practices is essential to developing a clear overview of their progress. In 2022, we sent a Supplier Sustainability Survey to each of our top 100 suppliers. The survey asks about each supplier’s actions related to sustainable packaging and operations, including any established targets for making their packaging renewable, reusable, recyclable, and/or lightweighted. It requests information on environmental commitments and policies, greenhouse gas reduction goals (if any), whether the supplier has sourced or committed to sourcing renewable energy, and whether the supplier has conducted lifecycle assessments on any of its products. In addition, the survey requests information relating to social criteria, such as whether the supplier participates in any Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) audits, is a member of or participates in CSR-focused organizations (such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation), and/or is certified as a minority-owned business. 

In addition to surveying our top suppliers, we also periodically audit suppliers on the depth and maturity of their ESG programs. These audits are done onsite in tandem with our quality audits. The audits include assessing the commitment of a supplier’s senior leadership to ESG, the environmental policies and/or programs in place, and how a supplier evaluates their own supply chain for compliance with environmental, labor, and health and safety regulations.  

Our Supply Chain Risk Assessment also provides us with an opportunity to proactively identify suppliers with the potential to have negative socio-environmental impacts and customize our ESG approach to address specific risks. Our assessment of the socio-environmental risks in our supply chain incorporates data from several external databases. Our goal is to complete a comprehensive risk assessment annually to ensure we are informed and can monitor developments worldwide in our supply chain. 

TricorBraun’s proven process will guide your packaging decisions from napkin sketch all the way to the retail shelf. Click below to get started.