Dollar Tree Pushes For Safer Chemical Usage With Chemical Footprint Project

Dollar Tree Store, Inc., an American chain of discount variety stores that operates 14,835 stores throughout the United States, recently joined the Chemical Footprint Project (CFP). CFP creates a common reporting framework that assesses a company’s risk and their ability to capture market value from safer chemical use. Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and Trinity Health are Signatories to CFP and members of the Investor Environmental Health Network (IEHN). CFP Signatories represent investors with $2.8 trillion in assets under management and health care and retail entities with $700 billion in purchasing power.

"Retailers are on the frontline of ensuring product safety for their consumers” noted Sister Nora Nash, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility for Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia. “By joining the Chemical Footprint Project, Dollar Tree is taking a major step forward to develop a chemicals management program that incorporate best practices,” concluded Nash.

CFP focuses on chemicals that are a material risk for companies because they are recognized by authoritative bodies to cause harm to human health and the environment. A 2017 study by Philippe Grandjean with the Harvard T.H. School of Public Health and Martine Bellanger of the EHESP School of Public Health in Paris concluded that the health costs of chemically related diseases including cancer, infertility, and learning disabilities total $11 trillion worldwide, or 10 percent of global GDP.

Organizations, like the Campaign for Healthier Solutions have been working to reduce the use of harmful chemicals used in consumer products sold at discount stores. Reporting standards for investors like the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board now include chemical risk and product safety as a part of their materiality index for retailers like Dollar Tree. The Chemical Footprint Project provides common data and metrics companies can use to report to these standards.

“Trinity Health appreciates being able to work through the Chemical Footprint Project to assess the companies in its investment portfolio,” said Cathy Rowan, Director of Socially Responsible Investments of Trinity Health. "Trinity Health cares about environmental and health stewardship, so the opportunity to suggest small changes that can advance safer chemical use is important to us."

By participating in the Chemical Footprint Project Survey, Dollar Tree joins Walmart and Target to become the third retailer to participate in the Survey.

“The Chemical Footprint Project Survey provides businesses with a roadmap to reducing chemical risks and capturing market opportunities,” emphasized Mark S. Rossi, co‐founder of the Chemical Footprint Project and Executive Director of Clean Production Action. “We welcome Dollar Tree’s participation in the CFP Survey and look forward to working with them on product safety and consumer health.”

The 4th Annual CFP Survey results with Dollar Tree’s results will be published in the third quarter of 2019.