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Adidas to cut chemicals
International brand joins Nike and Puma in agreeing to cut discharge of hazardous chemicals; calls for uniformed approach from industry
Adidas has agreed to cut the discharge of hazardous chemicals from its supply chain, following in the footsteps of Nike and Puma in responding to a challenge laid down by environmental campaign organisation Greenpeace.
Through its Detox campaign, Greenpeace is calling for clothing manufacturers to commit to a toxic-free future by working with their suppliers to remove toxic chemicals from their clothes. It follows the Dirty Laundry and Dirty Laundry 2 reports that revealed commercial links between major clothing brands and suppliers responsible for releasing hazardous chemicals into Chinese rivers.
Adidas said Greenpeace is calling for zero discharge of all hazardous and persistent chemicals at all points in global supply chains 'from the cotton fields, to the mills and dye houses that make the fabric and the garment production'.
An Adidas statement said: “Greenpeace has directed its campaign towards sporting goods companies in the belief that they can act as a catalyst for change for the whole industry. Why? Because sporting goods companies, such as the Adidas Group, are already widely recognised for their leadership when it comes to environmental sustainability.”
It continued: “Greenpeace’s Detox campaign has been characterised as a competition among brands. The simple truth, however, is that there can be no ‘winners’ unless the industry acts together. With that objective in mind, the Adidas Group has together with other brands been working tirelessly in recent weeks to bring the industry together in a forum to develop a roadmap that will address the zero discharge challenge that Greenpeace has posed. That forum is planned to be held at the end of September in Amsterdam.”
In a statement directly addressed to Greenpeace, Adidas Group said: “The Adidas Group is committed to the goal of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals from our supply chain via all pathways, with a 2020 timeline. The scale and complexity of this endeavour make this a very challenging task, which we will work on through an open and informed dialogue with all stakeholders.
“If we are to deliver lasting solutions, our actions need to be guided by transparency, fact-based decision-making and based on a preventative, precautionary and integrated approach to chemicals management. Within seven weeks, we will develop a roadmap specifically for the Adidas Group and our entire supply chain, which will include programmes and actions that we commit to, including actions concerning disclosure. In addition, we will develop and disclose a joint roadmap to detail specific programmes and actions that we can take collectively with other brands to drive our industry towards the goal of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals.
“This goal demands the collective action of industry, regulators and other stakeholders. We believe that the elimination of hazardous chemicals needs not only collaboration and partnership with our industry peers, but also a holistic and integrated approach. We will apply value-chain as well as life-cycle thinking and innovation throughout this process and to our approach for Integrated chemicals management.
“Further, we recognise that to achieve the goal of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals, mechanisms for disclosure and transparency about the hazardous chemicals used in our global supply chains are important and necessary, in line with the ‘right to know principle'.”
Adidas Group also outlined a number of actions it would be taking, including: re-emphasising to suppliers its environmental guidelines and restricted substances list (RSL); requesting information from its suppliers in relation to the use of NPEs in the manufacturing processes and requesting that they require of their sub-suppliers to avoid the intentional use of NPEs; requesting information from tier 2 suppliers about their chemicals suppliers; giving renewed notice to suppliers that they must eliminate and replace hazardous substances, which have been banned from use, with a non-hazardous chemical; increasing its focus on chemicals management and waste water treatment practices; developing a workshop approach for designers and product developers where the understanding and knowledge of the colour choice consequences will be enhanced; and continuing a dialogue with peers to develop a joint roadmap and increasing the leverage of such a joint roadmap.
In relation to the roadmap, Adidas said: “We foresee that the joint roadmap would contain activities, research and decision milestones related to the following specific aspects: application of a value-chain approach with a set of priorities and a phased approach; drive the implementation of a globally harmonised system of classification and labelling of chemicals; develop or apply an approach to structure inventories of hazardous chemicals; apply a rigorous and transparent verification procedure; develop a joint generic environmental audit approach, with specific attention to, but not narrowly focussed on, chemicals management; develop a single standard of good environmental practices for dye houses; work with chemicals suppliers to develop screening, selection criteria and prioritisation approaches to drive the elimination of hazardous chemicals and the substitution with less harmful chemicals; strive to define timelines for the phase-out of the prioritised hazardous substances; assess the need for inclusion of additional chemicals to the RSL; assess the need for inclusion of additional chemicals on lists of banned chemicals; develop mechanisms to transfer experiences with banned, phased-out chemicals from region to region and promote the global implementation of bans that have already been successfully executed in one region; and enter into a dialogue with scientists and regulators in different regions with the purpose of influencing the pace of regulation of hazardous chemicals and the diffusion of a global approach to regulation."
