Wal-Mart suppliers asked to dump eight chemicals

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is asking suppliers to remove formaldehyde, triclosan and six other substances from their products, part of an effort to eliminate controversial chemicals from household goods.

The chemicals on the list include “certain properties that can affect human health or the environment,” Wal-Mart said Wednesday. The retailer created the list with help from the Environmental Defense Fund, aiming to get suppliers to find alternatives, said Zach Freeze, Wal-Mart’s director for strategic initiatives on sustainability. The list was limited to eight high-priority chemicals so that Wal-Mart could make meaningful progress.

“We wanted to get started,” he said in an interview. “We knew it wasn’t going to be a perfect list.”

Naming the chemicals follows Wal-Mart’s announcement in 2013 that it would ask suppliers to reduce some substances in personalcare, cleaning and beauty products and promote alternatives.

Under the Wal-Mart policy, manufacturers must list the targeted ingredients on packaging by 2018 and work to find alternatives. The program affects about 90,000 items made by 700 manufacturers. Already, Wal-Mart’s suppliers have removed 95 per cent of the chemicals on the list from products sold in U.S. stores covered by the policy.

Formaldehyde is a carcinogen found in resins for wood products, building materials, paints and some consumer products like cosmetics, and triclosan is a chemical used in antibacterial soaps, toothpaste and some cosmetics.

The chemicals on Wal-Mart’s list also include:

Toluene, a colourless liquid used in paint thinners, nail polish and fragrances

Diethyl phthalate, used to make plastic more flexible and in cosmetics, insecticides and aspirin

Nonylphenol exthoxylates, surfactants used in industrial applications and consumer products such as laundry detergent

Butylparabens, used as a preservative in cosmetics Dibutyl Phthalate, a solvent Propylparaben, a preservative The Environmental Defense Fund advised the retailer to identify chemicals that “the science was solid on” and were likely to be regulated, said supply-chain director Michelle Harvey.