ZDHC Foundation releases guidelines for textile industries

The ZDHC Foundation, a leader in sustainable chemical management, has unveiled its Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0, establishing performance criteria for air emissions in the textile, apparel, leather, and footwear manufacturing sectors. This marks a significant step in ZDHC’s ongoing mission to enhance environmental responsibility across the global supply chain.

The new guidelines are designed to sensitize the industry, helping suppliers establish baselines and gain a comprehensive understanding of air emission requirements. Rather than focusing on testing, the initial version of the guidelines aims to enable facilities to align with these standards and report their data accordingly.

The ZDHC Air Emissions Guidelines V1.0 build on the foundation set by the 2019 ZDHC Air Emissions Position Paper, reflecting the organization’s commitment to continuous improvement in sustainable practices. The guidelines emphasize input chemistry management, which is crucial for achieving cleaner output and reducing air pollution.

To avoid redundancy, ZDHC has aligned its guidelines for greenhouse gases with existing industry efforts, focusing this initial version on input formulations with Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) content. While greenhouse gases are not the primary focus of these guidelines, ZDHC expects facilities to comply with current industry requirements and report their data.

ZDHC is encouraging brands to disseminate these guidelines throughout their supply chains and urging suppliers to familiarize themselves with the standards, monitor their air emissions, and record their data on the ZDHC platform. This proactive approach is intended to promote greater environmental accountability within the industry.