ZDHC Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0 and ZDHC Air Emissions Industry Standard Implementation Approach V1.0

The ZDHC Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0 follows on from the Air Emissions Position Paper that was published in 2019. Setting performance criteria for air emissions for manufacturing facilities in the textile, apparel, leather and footwear industries, supporting to drive continuous improvement.

This first version concentrates on sensitising the industry, allowing suppliers to establish their baselines and understand the air emission requirements rather than testing. Future versions will build on this, with the addition of testing. The focus is on input formulations with VOC content and not on greenhouse gases (GHG) because many others in the industry are already setting requirements for this area. We expect facilities to already be actioning these requirements and reporting their data on them.

A conscious decision has been made not to duplicate efforts within the industry but to align with them. ZDHC’s philosophy is to work on input chemistry with the aim of managing output. Therefore our focus within this guidelines is on input chemistry management leading to cleaner output (air pollution).

The step-by-step approach to developing these guidelines leads us to focus on input formulations with VOC content as a first step. In V1.0 our focus is not on greenhouse gases (GHG) due to the fact that there are many others in the industry already setting requirements for this area. We expect facilities to already be actioning these requirements, and reporting their data on these.

Objective

The aim of this document is:

1. To support suppliers to gain data to understand their current performance level.
2. To guide them in establishing and implementing effective VOC emissions practices to progress from Foundational up to Aspirational Level.

Expectations

Brands are expected to share these guidelines with their supply chain, requesting their suppliers to discover their baseline and monitor their VOCs and GHGs.

Suppliers are expected to read and understand the guidelines. Then calculate their baseline and continually monitor their air emission discharges, recording the data onto the ZDHC platform.

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Click below to access the:

1. Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0

2. Air Emissions Industry Standard Implementation Approach V1.0