A group of organisations led by US retailers Walmart and Target has published a science-based scorecard for the personal care industry, aimed at helping manufacturers create safer and more sustainable products. Addressing chemicals of concern and ingredient transparency emerged as one of the main issues from actions agreed at the 2014 beauty and personal care (BPC) product sustainability summit. A core group of eighteen organisations across the BPC value chain – including Henkel, Johnson & Johnson, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the Sustainability Consortium – has worked on the scorecard since. The final result is made up of 32 key performance indicators (KPIs) clustered into four areas: human health impact of ingredients, resource usage, ingredient disclosure, environmental and health impacts. Boma Brown-West, senior manager of consumer health at NGO the Environmental Defense Fund, said the scorecard sends a joint signal from retailers, “this scorecard will incentivise a race to the top for safer, more sustainable products”. 

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Chemical Watch