Interview with Frank Michel

Frank Michel
Executive Director
Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC)

Awareness of chemicals used in the value chain is at an all-time high

The Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) Foundation is a collaboration of leading brands, value chain affiliates, and associates leading the textiles industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemical. ZDHC recently launched a Chemical Module-directory for safe chemicals. Frank Michel, Executive Director of ZDHC shares details about this initiative and also what lies ahead for the non-profit organisation.

What is the biggest challenge in chemical management being faced by the textiles industry?

There are several challenges. One approach that can help with solving most of them is having an alignment on the guidance, tools and standards that are used by the industry to assess and apply better chemicals and chemical management. In this pre-competitive space, alignment on what the requests and expectations are of the value chain will allow brands and retailers to move faster towards zero discharge both with their own supplier base and industry-wide.

Tell us about the latest innovations taking place in green chemicals.

This is an exciting and dynamic area of work. Lot of effort has gone to develop non-fluorinated water repellents for textiles and footwear and to find alternatives to solvents such as those used for coated textiles. ZDHC can help accelerate this work by promoting these safer chemistries in the Chemical Module of the ZDHC Gateway and by raising awareness for areas where innovations are still needed.

What is the Chemical Module of the ZDHC Gateway? What are the practices followed by your organisation in managing chemicals?

The Chemical Module is a directory of safer chemicals meeting the requirements of the ZDHC Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL). The directory is arranged by function; so, for example, a mill can easily search for sourcing agents or water repellents that conform to the ZDHC MRSL. ZDHC does not certify these formulations, but is developing a list of credible third-party certifications that are used to show conformance with the ZDHC MRSL.

You have been hosting various programmes for zero discharge of hazardous chemicals. How successful have you been in creating awareness? Please elaborate.

Awareness of chemicals used in the textiles, leather and footwear value chain is at an all-time high. Looking back, we achieved a lot in the past few years to support and improve awareness in the fashion industry. And it's not just about awareness raising. Since our inception in 2011, our contributor base has grown to over 70 contributors worldwide, we have developed numerous tools (e.g. ZDHC MRSL, Wastewater Guidelines) and supported organisations with chemical management across many geographies through training, practical tools and awareness raising. One of our latest accomplishments in creating awareness is the convergence of our Audit Protocol Tool with the SAC (Sustainable Apparel Coalition) Facilities Environmental Module (FEM 3.0) due to be launched in Q4 of this year. This sends a strong message to the industry about the relevance of ZDHC's MRSL and Wastewater Guidelines.

What is the present state of hazardous textile chemicals across the globe? Please add with some focus on overall Asia - India, China and Bangladesh particularly.

As I mentioned earlier, awareness is at a high point and ever increasing. However, transforming a global industry is challenging for a relatively small organisation, like ZDHC, to do on its own. For maximum outreach and scalability within a region we work with strong regional and local partners. We started our large-scale implementation efforts in China in 2016 and collaborated very successfully with the China National Textile and Apparel Council (CNTAC). This year ZDHC is also heavily engaged in the European textiles supply chain and we started to develop implementation scenarios for other large volume production countries including India, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Please tell us about the hurdles faced by ZDHC in achieving its targets.

One of the biggest hurdles is so called 'supplier fatigue' from brands and retailers using so many different standards for chemical management. That is why we feel the ZDHC MRSL, Wastewater Guidance and ZDHC Gateway are critical pillars to the success of advancing towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in the industry on a meaningful scale.

You began with the ZDHC Academy in Bangladesh, India, Italy, Turkey and Vietnam. Tell us about this training programme. What has been the outcome of this initiative?

Our ZDHC Academy is part of a holistic toolbox to educate the industry and build capacity on best chemical management practices and to support implementation efforts around the ZDHC MRSL and Wastewater Guidelines. We established the Academy in 2016 and set up an international pool of high quality, accredited training providers to achieve impactful outreach in a minimum timeframe. Training sessions have to date been held in seven countries, and we continue to build our accredited trainer pool worldwide. Looking at the training landscape, the industry is however increasingly facing the challenges similar to audit fatigue. Training activities can be poorly coordinated and facilities are trained multiple times, by multiple organisations with different terminologies and messages. This is why ZDHC decided to open the ZHDC Academy and our trainer pool for the entire industry. We are also concentrating efforts on developing a standard for a Chemical Inventory Template that helps the industry to manage chemicals in terms of worker safety, chemical storage and driving better chemistry.

What has your growth story been in the last five years and what is the target set for the next two?

In 2011, ZDHC started as a coalition of six brands. The same year, these brands created and committed to the Joint Roadmap. In 2014, the group released Version 1 of the ZDHC MRSL that was updated in 2015 to include leather. In the same year, we released our Chemical Management System Guidance Manual and launched the ZDHC Foundation, our own not-for-profit legal entity, based in Amsterdam with staff to drive global development and implementation. We started with four team members and 21 signatory brands. Now, we are a team of 11 based in offices in Amsterdam (our headquarters), Shanghai and Portland, and have grown to over 70 contributors by July 2017. Based on our implementation strategy, we are planning to accelerate growth in the coming years. Without being specific about the numbers, I would like to point out that it is not so much the increase in contributorship that is in our focus. What drives us most is the quality of collaborations and strategic partnerships, the relevancy of our solutions, and the collective impact created within our industry.

Which brands and retailers are you currently linked with?

We are differentiating between active contributors, who are driving the development of our programme, and our 'Friends' who are actively working with or referring to ZDHC tools and standards within their supply chains. We call them 'Friends' because those brands and retailers have seen the relevance of our programme, and have chosen to create active awareness by implementing our tools. Looking at it this way-the number of brands and retailers that are referring to ZDHC is way higher than the number of active contributors. To better link and create synergies with our 'Friends of ZDHC' we are working on ways to make it easier to connect to ZDHC's programme and coordinate global implementation efforts. The current list of ZDHC contributors can be found on our website at https://www.roadmaptozero.com/contributors/

Is your organisation taking certain initiatives for sustainability, besides zero discharge?

The improvement of water quality and the reduction of discharges are essential parts of the ZDHC programme. ZDHC, however, is not only about discharge, we proactively engage with stakeholders around the globe to educate on the prevention of environmental pollution and drive innovations for the substitution of hazardous chemicals. For example, together with brands and industry representatives in China, we are currently running a project to phase out DMF (di-methyl formamide) in synthetic leather production. Through our implementation activities, we also have a substantial role to play in the transition of the fashion industry towards circularity and its alignment with the sustainable development goals. As ZDHC is about the global textiles, leather and footwear value chain, we hope to run many more of such forward-thinking projects in the near future in all parts of the world.(HO)

Published on: 17/08/2017

DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.