Recently, Walmart released its ‘Implementation Guide for Policy on Sustainable Chemistry’ aimed at helping its suppliers to meet the goals of the company’s sustainability policy. Last September, the American retailer had announced a new sustainability policy aimed at lowering the company’s social and environmental impacts and meeting customers’ expectations. Titled ‘Sustainable Chemistry,’ the policy focuses on reducing and eliminating the use or generation of substances that may be hazardous to humans or the environment. The newly released Implementation Guide for Policy on Sustainable Chemical expands on the 2013 Policy statement ‘to provide direction and resources to suppliers so that they can easily and efficiently understand and achieve the goals’ of Walmart’s Policy on Sustainable Chemistry in Consumables.
Further the implementation guide outlines the scope of the policy: formulated (chemical based) consumable sold through Walmart USA and Sam’s Club US stores, including health and beauty products, cosmetics and skin care, infant consumable and household chemicals. Meanwhile it is not really clear whether household chemicals, as Walmart defines it, covers paint and coatings. It will require public disclosure of all product ingredients on the supplier’s websites beginning January 2015, and suppliers must disclose Walmart-identified Priority Chemicals on product packaging by January 2018. Suppliers would also need to complete a sustainability report describing their performance on chemical disclosure, risk assessment, and hazard avoidance. Also as a starting point, Walmart had identified ten priority chemicals that it intends to phase out.
