Wal-Mart Asks Its Suppliers to Stop Using Eight Chemicals
- Retail giant puts formaldehyde and triclosan on the list
- Chemicals push affects about 90,000 items made by 70 companies
Soap with triclosan listed as an active ingredient.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
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 in a statement Wednesday. The world’s largest 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 related to sustainability. The list was limited to eight high-priority chemicals so that Wal-Mart could make meaningful progress.