Walmart to Reduce Chemicals of Concern by 10% in Consumables by 2022

Last month, Walmart became the first retailer in the U.S. to set a deadline for the reduction of chemicals of concern in consumables, promising to reduce them by 10% by the year 2022. The chemicals are a part of Walmart's high priority chemicals (HPC) list, which were released last year, and their priority chemicals (PC) list which are determined by considering regulatory lists (such as REACH).

According to Boma Brown-West, senior manager at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) “Walmart has set an industry precedent for targeting and measuring reductions of chemicals of concern in its products. [they] demonstrate the Five Pillars of Leadership on safer chemicals and encourage the pursuit of safer products across the supply chain".

Walmart also updated their sustainable chemistry commitment to focus on the following:

• Transparency: The expectation that supplies will clearly list all ingredients on all products by 2018
• Enhanced Formulation: The addition of two new regulatory lists to their chemicals of concern list in order to more clearly define fragrance allergen ingredients
• More sustainable products: The effort to increase the availability of sustainably formulated products