BEPI and the ZDHC Programme Join Forces to Scale Chemical Management in Global Supply Chains

International Desk : The Business Environmental Compliance Initiative (BEPI), a business-driven initiative supporting companies to improve the environmental performance of their global supply chains, and the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Programme, aimed at delivering sustainable chemistry management, are joining forces to leverage their respective synergies and strengths. Both initiatives have agreed upon a mutual contribution based around cooperation and scale in pursuit of a systemic change on chemical management in the textile and footwear industry.

As part of these collaborative efforts, BEPI has joined the ZDHC Programme as an Associate Contributor in order to actively support the delivery of the ZDHC mission and roadmap in close collaboration with other ZDHC members. This will involve addressing aspects such as the Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL), Audit Protocol and Wastewater Quality Standard, but also engaging in the important cross cutting areas of data and training.

This work will allow BEPI to provide its participants with the best practice tools and standards in its soon to be launched Supply Chain Chemical Management module, and thereby support implementation at scale and facilitate common messaging across global textile supply chains.

“The textiles and footwear supply chains require specific chemical management implementation support. Our collaboration with ZDHC is an important step in achieving this and scaling up the industry-leading work of the ZDHC”, pointedStuart Harker, BEPI Managing Director.

Moreover, BEPI and the ZDHC Programme will also explore the possibility of using the FTA Academy – an online platform providing capacity building activities to FTA members and producers worldwide – to disseminate and share training on chemicals and chemical management across the supply chains of both organisations’ membership. This will be a tremendous opportunity to truly scale awareness and increased knowledge, a vital step to good chemical management in factories worldwide.

 “Our vision is to have ZDHC guidelines in responsible chemicals management become the accepted industry standard, and we’re excited to be collaborating with BEPI and its network, to further our work, and reach even more actors within the value-chain,” said ZDHC Executive Director Frank Michel.

BEPI along with the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI) form the Sustainability Division of the Foreign Trade Association (FTA), bringing together over 1700 member companies to build sustainable supply chains. FTA Sustainability capacity building and monitoring activities reach over 28,000 producers globally. The ZDHC Programme comprises of over 20 brands, associates and affiliated organisations committed to advancing towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals and to environmental improvement. This collaboration will bring together industry, technical expertise and the necessary tools to accelerate improved performance at scale.

“As supply chain chemical management can be both complicated and costly for many organisations, a streamlined scalable approach to standards, monitoring and training is needed. BEPI and ZDHC partnership is a significant step towards meeting this goal”, said Anna Vetsch, Sustainability Project Manager at Coop Switzerland.