BEPI and Coats Join ZDHC

BEPI & Coats Commit To The Zero Discharge Of Hazardous Chemicals Programme

05/03/2016

Today, the ZDHC Programme announces two new contributors to scale efforts to eliminate hazardous chemicals from the global footwear and textile value-chain.

The Business Environmental Performance Initiative (BEPI), a business-driven initiative supporting companies to improve the environmental performance of their global supply chains, has joined the Programme as an associate contributor.

Coats, the world’s leading industrial thread manufacturer and a major player in the Americas textile crafts market, has joined the Programme as a value-chain affiliate.

Earlier this year, the ZDHC Programme announced its new contributor model, designed to incorporate key participants across the global textile and footwear value-chain.

"Our new contributor model aims to enable a broader level of companies, such as small and medium sized enterprises, to engage in the Programme and drive ZDHC standards forward,” said Executive Director Frank Michel.

“The Programme was born from awareness that holistic systems change was required to achieve our ambitious goal, and to be successful, all participants within the value-chain must be involved.”

Launched by six leading brands in 2011, the ZDHC Programme has since grown to 22 signatory brands, four value-chain affiliates and three associate contributors.

"Our vision is to have ZDHC guidelines become the accepted industry standard. To achieve this, industry collaboration is essential.”

Now in its fourth year, the Programme has released key guidelines and tools, such as, among others, its Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL), a total of 15 Chemical Guidance Sheets, the Chemical Management Systems Guidance Manual. This September, the Programme is poised to release its Wastewater Discharge Guidelines. To support implementation of ZDHC tools, the Programme and BEPI are exploring the possibility of using the FTA Academy to disseminate and share training on chemical management across the value-chains of both organisations’ membership.

The FTA Academy, recently launched by BEPI’s mother organisation, the Foreign Trade Association, is an online platform that provides capacity building activities to over 1,700 companies and 28,000 producers worldwide. Read more on this collaboration here.

“Collaboration with partners such as BEPI provide the Programme with great opportunity to reach even more participants within the value-chain,” said Michel.

“We’re excited to see growing industry support for greener chemistry practices, and encourage others within the textile and footwear industries to follow the lead taken by ZDHC brands, now including Coats and BEPI, towards this end.”

For more information on the ZDHC Programme see here.

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