Walmart And Target Take Aim At Hazardous Ingredients

Big retailers formulate policies to regulate the chemicals that go into the products they sell

Megaretailers Walmart and Target announced last fall that they would reduce or eliminate ingredients in household goods that they deem harmful to human health and the environment. The policies, which focus on cleaners and personal care products, were applauded by advocacy groups that are pushing companies to disclose ingredients and apply more stringent safety criteria than required by law.

In the months since the announcements, both companies have gone silent about the policies. Neither Walmart nor Target agreed to speak with C&EN for this story. But interviews with executives and advocates who have worked with the firms on their strategies make it clear that the programs are still works in progress.

Although both retailers devised their approaches to respond to pressure from consumers, that is not the only driver, experts say. “The retail regulation you are seeing is a direct response to the failure of government to directly regulate those chemicals,” says Martin Wolf, director of product sustainability at Seventh Generation, a consumer goods company that focuses on environmentally friendly products. The proliferation of state chemical laws is another driver.

Walmart and Target plan to start their sustainable product odysseys by making it easier for consumers to find out what chemicals are present in products they carry. And they plan to assess the safety of products on the basis of their contents. But from there, their plans diverge.

Walmart has identified 10 high-priority chemicals to reduce, restrict, or eliminate, although it has not made this list public. Observers call this the “stick approach.”

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