UPS has begun using software that optimizes routing and cuts down on miles traveled.

Sustainability can involve a global effort to calculate carbon emissions across the entire supply chain. Or it can mean the changing of a few light bulbs.

Unilever United States and Canada announced that all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing headquarter facilities are now zero waste to landfill (ZLF). Other countries in which Unilever has achieved this milestone reportedly include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan.

There is only so much that a single organization is going to be able to achieve to improve the impact it has on the environment or society, without collaborating with the wider aspects of its supply chain.

Richard Bank and Lisa Harrington, directors of the Sustainable Supply Chain Foundation, bring us up to date on the group's efforts to introduce third-party verification of companies' sustainability programs.

DHL Express has introduced a "carbon-neutral" envelope for U.S. customers.

Analyst Insight: Sustainability is a global business megatrend with cross-functional implications that for-profit corporations cannot afford to ignore any more than IT or quality management. Sustainability means balancing environmental impacts, social welfare and profit-making activities to promote value along the so-called "triple bottom line." Given increasingly conscientious consumers and growing limits to resource availability, success in the era of climate change will be reserved for companies that have sustainable supply chains and operations. - Nada Sanders, Professor and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University; Director of EcoNautics Sustainability Institute

Brent Beabout, senior vice president of supply chain with Office Depot, describes how the company slashed packaging waste by switching from corrugated cardboard to paper bags for deliveries to consumers and business. A finalist in the Supply Chain Innovation of the Year competition.

Internet Truckstop, an online freight-matching service, has developed a new decision-support tool and free webinar series to help users of Truckstop.com comply with new regulations of the California Air Resources Board (CARB).