Walmart Exceeds Priority Chemical Reduction Targets

Walmart Inc., which aimed for a 10% reduction in use of priority chemicals in beauty, personal care and household cleaning products sold in stores by 2022, is years ahead of its goal.

Mega retailer Walmart Inc. has surpassed its sustainable chemistry goal to slash priority chemicals in formulated consumable products sold in its stores, posting a 17% decrease by weight in priority chemical usage over a three-year period.

The Bentonville, AR-based retailer initially aimed for a 10% reduction in the priority chemicals footprint between 2017 and 2022 for beauty, personal care, baby, pet and household cleaning products carried in its US Walmart and Sam’s Club stores, but exceeded that goal in 2020.

Walmart attributes the achievement to “assortment changes, reformulation and shifts in consumer purchases” in its fiscal year 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance Summary Report, released on 21 July.

“Just as companies are measuring and reducing their carbon footprints, it is critically important that they measure and reduce their chemical footprints, that is, the use of toxic chemicals in products and packaging.” – SCHF

It appears that product manufacturers are heeding the retailer’s call to phase out or curtail their use of certain chemicals in consumer products and complying with Walmart’s appeals for ingredient transparency.

Walmart developed its sustainable chemistry program in 2014, referencing a number of “authoritative and regulatory lists” it would use to target priority chemicals, while keeping specific chemical selections under wraps. (Also see "Walmart Sustainable Chemistry Policy A “Big Deal,” But Raises Questions" - HBW Insight, 17 Mar, 2014.)

Priority chemicals are now chosen from more than a dozen authoritative lists, including the European Union’s list of Category 1 and 2 endocrine disruptors and California Proposition 65 developmental toxicants.

To meet its goals, Walmart asked suppliers to reduce use of priority chemicals through product reformulation and work to provide formulation transparency, steering them to certifications such as Environmental Working Group’s EWG Verified and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Safer Choice program.

In order to track progress, Walmart suppliers were asked to share formulations through the WERCSmart program, managed by safety certifier UL. Formulations for 95% of products that fall under the program’s scope were entered into WERCSmart in 2020, according to the retailer.

That scope included more than 140,000 SKUs in the beauty, personal care, baby, pet and household cleaning products categories that sold in 2020 in US Walmart and Sam's Club doors.

The reductions made during the three-year period represented 37 million pounds of priority chemicals. The weight of priority chemicals as a proportion of total product formulation dropped from 1.97% in 2017 to 1.36% in 2020, a decline of 61 basis points.

NGO Praise

NGO Safer Chemicals Healthy Families lauded the retailer’s progress. “Walmart’s initiative demonstrates the critically important role retailers can play in driving down the use of toxic chemicals in the products they make and sell and throughout global supply chains,” SCHF says in a release.

The group encourages Walmart to go further, suggesting it reduce its priority chemical footprint by 50% in five years and ensure that priority chemicals are replaced with safer alternatives.

Further, SCHF urges the retailer to expand the list of priority chemicals and restrict certain high-concern chemicals in particular, such as per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

SCHF also calls on other retailers to follow suit and join Walmart in reducing the use of certain chemicals in products sold in stores, and adopt Walmart’s model for assessing products’ chemical composition.

“Just as companies are measuring and reducing their carbon footprints, it is critically important that they measure and reduce their chemical footprints, that is, the use of toxic chemicals in products and packaging,” SCHF says.

Additionally, the NGO urges Walmart to continue championing suppliers’ own sustainability programs. Walmart’s LinkedIn page notes that Reckitt’s goal is to reduce its own chemical footprint by 65% by 2030 through sustainable chemistry.

“This is important because reductions extend beyond Walmart’s shelves to those of other retailers selling the same products, creating a larger market impact,” SCHF says.