Wal-Mart is phasing out hazardous chemicals from beauty and household cleaner products.
According to USA Today, the company has been encouraged by health and environmental advocates to require suppliers to disclose and eventually do away with hazardous chemicals from fragrances, cosmetics, household cleaners, and personal care products.
Wal-Mart senior vice president of sustainability Andrea Thomas told USA Today both parties are working to make stores safer.
"It's all kind of integrated," she said.
According to Thomas, Wal-Mart will collaborate on how to best protect stores and customers from the toxins with a group of companies who strive to decrease the environmental toll of global consumption known as the Sustainability Consortium.
Wal-Mart is not going to discontinue relationships with their suppliers, but rather join forces and work together on the best way to go about the situation in providing safe products for customers to purchase from their stores, Thomas told USA Today. Chemicals were chosen based on the extent of their impact and how available, safe and affordable alternatives were to replace them.
The company will begin to make the changes in January when it will begin to keep track of the progress of the elimination of the chemicals, and put its own brand of environmentally-friendly cleaning products. Suppliers will also be notified of the new policy.
Wal-Mart's news is the latest development in various companies taking products with toxic chemicals out of their stores. Proctor and Gamble for example said it was getting rid of chemicals hormone like phthalates and antibacterial triclosan.
About a year ago, Johnson and Johnson agreed to remove the two chemicals, along with formaldehyde and parabens from personal care products it carries in stores worldwide.
Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, told USA Today, the changes are a great improvement.
"It's a significant step forward," she said.
