ZDHC rolls out Supplier to Zero initiative

AMSTERDAM – Previously known as the ‘Facility Leader’ programme, the ZDHC has now rolled out its new ‘Supplier to Zero’ initiative in a bid to boost chemical management within textile supplier factories – including those that are currently off the radar.

It will be launched in three phases starting with ‘foundational’, then ‘progressive’ and finally next year with the ‘aspirational’ level. Its main aim is to provide practical implementation guidance for improvement at textile mills based on the existing ZDHC chemical management framework.

The foundational level is a self-assessment and verification process and is designed to on-board as many new supplier facilities as possible. But the ZDHC is also looking to include Oekotex Step, bluesign, BEPI (by Amfori) as well as the Higg Facilities Environmental Module (FEM) to demonstrate compliance to certain parameters when it comes to the highest ‘aspirational’ level of compliance.

The new programme is intended to provide industry guidance only – and won’t be an independent standard.

“The supplier to zero programme is not meant to be an audit programme,” Klaas Nuttbohm from the ZDHC Implementation Hub told Ecotextile News. “It’s meant to be about capacity building and is a way to help textile mills to demonstrate their leadership in chemical management.”