Our chemicals policy
We have prioritised own-brand products as our core responsibility and the area where we can exert greatest influence on chemicals and pesticides practices.
The British Retail Consortium has developed a list for retailers of relevant chemicals that are considered to be both harmful to the environment and/or hazardous to human health.
Approximately 100 chemicals and pesticides from this list may occur in our own-brand products. Almost all of these chemicals pose no direct threat to the consumer but may pose a longer term threat following their release into the wider environment.
Chemicals
Our policy on chemicals is restricted to the existence of the chemical in the final product and not its use as an intermediate in manufacture.
We have grouped the chemicals that may occur in our own-brand products into four categories, which inform specific strategies, policies and objectives:
- Remove - ban the chemical from the end product
- Restrict - restrict the chemical from certain products only
- Notify - request notification from suppliers of the existence of the chemical in own-brand products
- No immediate action - until a policy review, unless a chemical is flagged.
Pesticides
We have adopted a modified approach for pesticides because of they way they are strictly regulated in the UK.
Under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 (FEPA), a pesticide is any substance, preparation or organism prepared or used to:
- Protect plants or wood or other plant products from harmful organisms
- Regulate the growth of plants
- Give protection against harmful creatures
- Render such creatures harmless.
There will be overlap between the chemicals and pesticide lists when chemicals have a dual usage, such as a pesticide and a plasticiser.
We place pesticides of concern into one of the following categories:
- Remove - ensure removal from own-brand product
- Review - review use in formulations and/or products
- Grower guidance note - indicate to growers that we are concerned about the use of this pesticide
- No immediate action - until a policy review, unless a chemical is flagged.
Due to the greater availability of information on pesticides, we have been able to divide their uses into the following categories:
- Unlikely to be an issue
- Found within the formulation of a pesticide product
- Part of a retail product, eg seed coating
- Likely to be isolated to product manufacture only.
Unless otherwise stated, our pesticide policy considers the chemical's presence in own-brand goods only. The list of pesticides is available on request.
Responsibility
The Group Head of Quality Assurance is responsible for maintaining this policy.
The Group will keep stakeholders updated on progress and maintain a close watch on new information relating to the likely presence of risky chemicals in its products.
We expect the co-operation of our suppliers to help us implement this policy and increase our understanding of the key issues and practicalities of banning or restricting specific chemicals.
