Target, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods Market are leading retailers in the race to provide safer chemicals in products. With their newly announced chemical policies, Target and Wal-Mart [PDF] have joined Whole Foods Market in moving well beyond regulations to reduce the chemical footprints of household cleaning and personal care products sold in their stores. Significantly, these initiatives are driving manufacturers of direct-exposure chemical products -- starting with cosmetics, personal care and… …
Yesterday Target introduced its new Sustainable Product Standard that it claims “will help establish a common language, definition and process for qualifying what makes a product more sustainable.” Target will implement its standard using the UL Transparency Platform to: collect product-level information from suppliers of household cleaners and personal care, beauty, and baby care products; and assess each product “based on the sustainability of ingredients, ingredient… …
Press Release of Commons Principles for Alternatives Assessment with October 2013 Signatories: October 17, 2013 Contacts: Mark Rossi, BizNGO (781-799-9504, mark@cleanproduction.org) Katie Ware, Environmental Defense Fund (212-616-1283, kware@edf.org) Cathy Crumbley, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (978-934-2980, cathy_crumbley@uml.edu) Pam Eliason, Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute (978-934-3142, pam@turi.org) Leading Companies, Universities and NGO's Support New… …
Introducing UNEP’s Global Chemicals Outlook UNEP, in close collaboration with OECD, WHO and other organisations of the Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC), is developing a Global Chemicals Outlook to frame current understanding of trends in chemicals production, use and disposal, economic implications of these trends, and policy options. …
If it's on the store shelf, it's been tested and found safe, right? In this podcast with Annie Leonard of the Story of Stuff, Bev Thorpe of Clean Production Action talks about the hidden chemical dangers in everyday products and how green chemistry promises to transform the relationship between us and our Stuff. Listen to the 25 minute podcast here. Annie Leonard created a global phenomenon with her movie the Story of Stuff, a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of… …
Walmart’s new policy (PDF) to require manufacturers of cosmetics and cleaning products to disclose ingredients in their products and remove priority hazardous chemicals signals a new era in sustainability. It’s a critical first step on the path to safer and healthier chemicals in products. Chemicals, after all, are at the foundation of our material world. All materials and products -- from paper to plastics, from computers to cleaning products -- consist of chemicals. Yet businesses… …
BizNGO this week released a guide to help manufacturers, retailers and purchasers track their progress towards using chemicals that are safer for human health and the environment. The Guide to Safer Chemicals was released at the 7th annual meeting of BizNGO, a coalition formed in 2006 that includes businesses, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities and government agencies. …