Introduction

Retailers play a critical role in consumer and environmental health by choosing what to offer on their store shelves. However, the vast majority of retailers assessed in the 2024 Retailer Report Card do not have their own definitions for product or packaging safety, nor do they know the chemical content of the products they sell. By ignoring the potential hazard of their own products and packaging, retailers expose their customers, especially those most vulnerable, to the effects of hazardous chemicals in common, everyday products.

The problem: hazardous chemicals and plastics in consumer products

Billions of pounds of hazardous chemicals and plastics, primarily derived from oil and gas, are made into consumer products and packaging each year.[1]

Hazardous chemicals in products are of particular concern to women, both due to higher exposures and concerns about impacts during pregnancy and nursing. Toxic chemicals can cross the placenta, resulting in fetal exposure.[2] Chemicals like PFAS and hazardous flame retardants are contaminating women’s breast milk, exposing babies to harmful substances during critical windows of development.[3, 4] And studies have shown that women of color are disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals such as phthalates, often used in fragranced beauty products marketed to people of color.[5]

Vulnerable populations such as low-income communities and communities of color are also disproportionately impacted, not only by the use of products, but also the production and disposal of toxic chemicals and plastics. Chemical manufacturing facilities and toxic disposal sites are often located near low-income communities of color, putting these populations at greater risk of toxic exposures and adverse health effects.[6] The production, use, and disposal of chemicals and plastics has created a toxic legacy that has impacted nearly every stretch of the planet, from environmental justice communities in Texas and Cancer Alley in Louisiana, to wildlife and fish in the ocean laden with dangerous microplastics, to millions of U.S. residents whose drinking water is contaminated with PFAS.[7-11] Scientists have sounded the alarm that the production and release of toxic chemicals like PFAS and plastics have exceeded “planetary boundaries,” surpassing safe levels for humanity and the planet.[12-14]

The vast majority of hazardous chemicals and plastics are derived from fossil fuels.[15] The chemical industry’s carbon emissions are a major contributor to the climate crisis, with global pollution from the plastics petrochemical industry equal to 600 coal-fired power plants. Global carbon pollution from plastic production is on track to triple by 2050.[16] To stem the climate crisis, urgent action is needed to reduce production of hazardous petrochemicals and plastics.

In addition to human and environmental health impacts, increasing regulatory, reputational, and financial risks form a strong business case for addressing hazardous chemicals and plastics. A growing number of states are enacting laws banning PFAS and other hazardous chemicals.[17] The U.S. EPA is considering whether to regulate harmful petrochemicals such as the PVC plastic feedstock chemicals ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride.[18, 19] Additionally, world leaders are preparing to finalize the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty this fall.[20] Companies that fail to move ahead of these trends will find themselves out of compliance, possibly facing litigation threats, as with PFAS and asbestos in recent years.

Retailers must mind the store

Retailers have an obligation to ensure the products they sell do not contain highly hazardous chemicals and plastics that can have irreversible impacts on human health and contribute to climate change.

This new report reveals that many leading retailers are making progress to ban chemicals of high concern like PFAS and phthalates, and plastics of high concern like PVC and polystyrene. However, only a few earned top marks, like Apple, Target, Sephora, and Walmart, which are making concerted investments in both restricting dangerous chemicals and transitioning to safer solutions.

The Retailer Report Card: ranking retailers on toxic chemicals

The Retailer Report Card maps current best practices, from adopting corporate safer chemical policies to quantifying products that have been assessed as safer solutions. Based on over 20 years of work with retailers, brands, manufacturers, NGOs, and governments, the actions outlined in the Retailer Report Card are those used by the most forward-thinking retailers toward the goal of using verified safer chemicals and materials in the products they sell.

This year, the Mind the Store program celebrates 11 years since its launch and is pleased to release the sixth edition of the Retailer Report Card. The first edition was published in 2016. To mark this important milestone, we have updated the scoring rubric for the 2024 Retailer Report Card to continue to drive market transformation toward safer chemicals, products, and packaging. The updated criteria, the Four Essential Elements for a Safer Marketplace, were developed by Toxic-Free Future in consultation with key partners, leading retailers, and experts in the field.

The criteria used in previous report cards have been distilled into the “Four Essential Elements for a Safer Marketplace.” This was done for two primary reasons:

1.     To simplify and clearly communicate how the original criteria relate to one another; and
2.     To highlight the four key areas of focus that are essential for retailers to reduce and eliminate highly hazardous chemicals and plastics, and to move toward truly safer products, packaging, operations, and global supply chains.