Walmart Shows Promising Results After Adoption of 2014 "Sustainable Chemistry Policy"

After committing to a 2014 policy that oversees the removal of harmful chemicals from consumer products, Walmart announced a 95% reduction by weight in the use of high priority chemicals of concern back in April. The three primary commitments of this policy encompassed:

•  An increased transparency of product ingredients, such as full product formulations and online disclosure;

• Advance safer formulations of products—attempting to achieve complete elimination of Priority Chemicals and High Priority Chemicals; and

• Attaining U.S. EPA’s Safer Choice certification (formerly Design for the Environment) of Walmart private brand products.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has applauded the progress Walmart has made in regards to their new chemical guidelines, writing how “Walmart’s policy is working because it hits on every one of EDF's five pillars of leadership for safer chemicals in the marketplace.” Some of the suggestions for future improvement include: extending sustainable chemistry philosophy across all products and all stores globally; adopting stronger disclosure standards for products ingredients; and maintaining momentum by continuing to publish progress, which may resonate with the public and provide an incentive for other retailers to follow Walmart’s lead. Read more here.