Amsterdam, June 18, 2019 – After an intense dialogue and a series of meetings during
the past year between the ZDHC Board of Directors and the GCIRT, an alignment was
gained on ZDHC organisational commitments and a mutual understanding of the role
of chemical suppliers within the ZDHC Programme. This opens the doors for broader,
more active distribution of chemistry expertise and implementation support of textile
dye and leather chemical manufacturing industry in the ZDHC Programme.
As a consequence of the alignment the GCIRT signatory companies will each be
joining the ZDHC Foundation as Contributors and uploading their products in the
Chemical Module of the ZDHC Gateway via bluesign’s bluefinder tool.
In this, the fourth year of implementing the ZDHC Programme, the ZDHC Foundation
exclusive focus is to accelerate the phase out of hazardous chemistry in the textile
and leather value chain based on the use of ZDHC tools and standards. Furthermore,
over time ZDHC will evolve the ZDHC Programme from a brand driven to a multistakeholder initiative with balanced roles and responsibilities within the ZDHC
Programme.
GCIRT Speaker: “This is a critical milestone towards addressing the demand for a
cleaner and transparent supply chain. The engagement of leading chemical suppliers
makes the ZDHC Programme implementation efforts more robust to mitigate societal
and environmental risk for all textile and leather value chain stakeholders. It is only by
working together that we will be able to shift the needle in the way we tackle urgent
sustainability challenges in the textile and leather industry.”
Frank Michel, Executive Director, ZDHC Foundation: “To further accelerate the
transformation of our industry we need to engage with all relevant participants of the
value chain to shape the ZDHC Programme from a finite ‘roadmap to 2020’ mission to
an infinite ZDHC Programme with broad multi-stakeholder support.”
Charles Dickinson, Chair of the ZDHC Board of Directors: “We are all in agreement,
that the current situation of proliferation of detox approaches and their supporting
testing schemes is ineffective and costly. Therefore, we acknowledge that we share a
common objective in the alignment of resources that drive better chemistry and
innovations that reduce the chemical and environmental footprint of the textile and
leather industries”
The alignment with the chemical suppliers focuses on a harmonised industry approach
to implementation that reduces duplicative efforts and complexity in the value chain
whilst clarifying and strengthening the role of the chemical industry as a whole in the
ZDHC Programme:
The ZDHC MRSL & MRSL update
Further development of this standard will ensure adequate participation of the
engaged textile and leather chemical manufacturers within the ZDHC MRSL Focus
Areas, Advisory Groups and Councils to ensure that future updates represent current
best chemical manufacturing techniques and can be reliably met by the industry.
ZDHC MRSL Level 0 Conformity
The ZDHC MRSL Level 0 conformance (self-declaration) was initially necessary to
gain broad engagement of the chemical suppliers in our value chain. To move to the
next level of ZDHC MRSL conformance for sustainable chemistry, Level 0 will be
phased out in 2020. This prevents a stagnation of low ZDHC MRSL conformance and
gains higher confidence in chemical formulations and their suppliers that are listed in
the Chemical Module of the ZDHC Gateway.
Chemical Supplier Leader Programme
The chemical suppliers will support the Foundation in establishing a Chemical Supplier
Leader Programme that reflects and rewards the ambition for continuous improvement
in textile and leather chemical manufacturing. The spirit of this new programme will be
jointly developed in the coming months and implemented in 2020.
ZDHC Conformity Pyramid Approach
During the intense dialogue, all parties agreed that, the acceptance of the ZDHC
MRSL and the related conformity system (Level 3 includes Level 2 and 1, Level 2
includes Level 1) by all stakeholders is fundamental to the success of the ZDHC
Programme.
Commenting on the alignment Frank Michel, Executive Director, ZDHC Foundation
says: “The organisation and the ZDHC Programme is dedicated to continuous
improvement. We hope the progress made in the past months and years has built a
solid foundation for a clear path forward for the individual engagement of chemical
suppliers in the ZDHC Programme.”
ZDHC Board and Management thanks all active Contributors in the ZDHC Programme
and the signatories of the GCIRT for their openness and willingness to collaborate,
moving the ZDHC Programme to the next level in terms of global outreach and active
stakeholder engagement in the ZDHC Foundation activities.
The ZDHC Foundation manages the Roadmap to Zero Programme with the aim of
phasing out hazardous chemicals in the textile, apparel, footwear and leather value
chain by promoting safer chemistry and driving innovation.
With more than 130 active Contributors, the multi-stakeholder ZDHC Programme
headquartered in Amsterdam and with offices in Milan, Mumbai, Shanghai and
Portland/US, ZDHC co-ordinates the collaborative implementation of a holistic toolset
on a global level.
The Global Chemical Industry Round Table (GCIRT), sent an open letter to ZDHC
in May 2018 and is a group of the leading chemical solution providers in the textile and
leather industry with the collective aim of driving the industry further to become more
sustainable. GCIRT’s signatory’s engagement into the ZDHC Programme will support
a faster transformation of the industry by taking complexity out of the supply chain and
to find appropriate solutions for the industries’ requirements.
The GCIRT members are: ARCHROMA (Switzerland); CHT Germany GmbH
(Germany); Colourtex Industries Private Limited (India); DyStar Singapore Pte Ltd
(Singapore); Huntsman Textile Effects (Singapore); KISCO (Korea); Pulcra Chemicals
Group (Germany); RUDOLF GmbH (Germany); TANATEX Chemicals B.V.
(Netherlands).
