Sam's Club China, a Walmart-owned membership warehouse club, has launched a label-free drinking water under the private brand Member’s Mark to bolster its sustainable packaging efforts.

The initiative is part of a broader strategy to reduce plastic, ink and energy consumption, and to simplify the recycling process.

The label-free design of the Member’s Mark water bottles signifies a reduction in the use of plastics during the manufacturing stage, resulting in a product that consists of a single, recyclable material.

Although individual bottles lack labels, nutritional information is provided on the outer case packaging, as water is sold by the case.

The water is sourced from three protected areas in China: Qiandao Lake in Zhejiang, Wanlv Lake in Guangdong and Danjiangkou Reservoir in Hubei.

The sustainable packaging efforts align with Walmart's sustainability goals and its Project Gigaton initiative, which seeks to reduce or avoid one billion tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2030.

In addition to water bottles, Sam's Club China has made packaging improvements to other Member's Mark products, including the use of aqueous coatings on paperboard packaging that replaces less recyclable materials such as biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film.

Member’s Mark freeze-dried instant coffee powder packaging has been updated to remove polyethylene terephthalate (PET) window patching film, apply aqueous coating instead of BOPP film lamination, and cut plastic use by approximately 5.8g per box.

Walmart is leveraging its omnichannel presence to work with suppliers and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to promote circular, low-carbon business models, stated the company.

Project Gigaton was launched in 2017 and more than 330 suppliers for Walmart China had joined the initiative by the end of 2024, with 300 partners implementing strategies to reduce energy usage and emissions, particularly in packaging.