Nonwovens majors Fibertex Personal Care, RKW and Sandler were among 17 suppliers to Procter and Gamble who achieved the highest possible ratings with the retail giant’s environmental sustainability scorecard analysis tool in 2011. Nearly half of the companies earning the highest rating came from Europe.

The scorecard is just one aspect of a robust, productivity-driving sustainability effort across P&G that the company estimates has led to nearly $1 billion in bottom-line operational savings from reductions in energy, water, waste and CO₂ at its own facilities over the past ten years.

P&G now plans to make the Excel-based tool freely available for use by any company. It enables companies to measure and interpret key environmental sustainability metrics across their supply chains and identify progress as well as opportunities for improvement.