Walmart Pledges 10% Reduction in Chemicals of Concern by 2022

By 2022, Walmart aims to reduce chemicals of concern in the products it sells by 10%, becoming the first US retailer to set a time bound reduction goal.

The goal applies to "consumables", meaning products that are used recurrently, such as household cleaners and cosmetics.

Substances covered are those on the company’s high priority chemicals (HPCs) and priority chemicals (PCs) lists. Walmart revealed the eight substances on its HPCs list in July last year, and has since reduced by 96% their volume in weight – some 23m lbs.

Priority chemicals, meanwhile, are taken from a range of authoritative and regulatory lists, including those on the REACH authorisation list (Annex XIV), and so cover a much broader range of substances.

A Walmart spokesperson told Chemical Watch, the store believed suppliers should be working to reduce, remove and restrict the use of PCs and its goal would allow suppliers to "come to the company with unique plans to reformulate and innovate".

Walmart’s updated sustainable chemistry commitment recommends suppliers use the third party certifications - Cradle to Cradle (silver level and above) and EWG Verified. It says these "lend credibility to green chemistry and safer substitutions".

Boma Brown-West of the NGO Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) called the commitment "a historic move" which "signals to 700 global suppliers of 90,000 consumable products that reducing the company’s chemical footprint is a priority".

Based on their 2016 chemical footprint, she said, a 10% reduction translates to over 55m lbs.

Earlier this year, Walmart became the first retailer to participate in the Chemical Footprint Project, an initiative from the NGO Clean Production Action, which benchmarks how effectively companies are managing chemicals in their products and supply chains.

Transparency efforts

In addition, Walmart will also ask suppliers to verify the purity of ingredients, where contaminants of concern may exist. These can arise as impurities present in intentionally added ingredients, byproducts formed through the interaction of product ingredients, or through other processes along the manufacturing path to a finished product.

Required since the launch of its policy, suppliers must provide full online public ingredient disclosure for formulated consumable items, sold at Walmart US and Sam’s Club US stores. It also requires them to disclose PCs, or all ingredients, on packs from 2018. But Walmart is now extending this to encourage suppliers to expand online and on-pack ingredient disclosure to international markets.

Walmart's PC list has also been updated to include SCCS fragrance allergens to better address these ingredients.

Zach Freeze, senior director of strategic initiatives for sustainability at Walmart, said the store was advocating for its customers by providing innovation and transparency about what goes into products.

"Our strengthened commitment provides more clarity on our expectations for suppliers in working towards enhanced product formulations and setting concrete benchmarks to check progress along the way," he said.

Mike Schade of the NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families (SCHF), which runs the Mind the Store campaign to benchmark major US retailers, said the commitment would "increase transparency about chemicals in products and drive the elimination of dangerous chemicals that will send ripple effects throughout global supply chains", and called on other retailers to follow suit.

Walmart launched its sustainable chemistry policy in 2013, directing suppliers to reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals of concern in personal care, paper, cleaning, pet and baby products.