AMSTERDAM – The ZDHC Roadmap to Zero Programme has released an electronic version of its Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) which offers interactive support to the global textile and apparel industries seeking to improve the use of chemicals in textile and apparel value chains.
The ZDHC MRSL is a list of chemical substances that are banned from intentional use in the production of textile and apparel, and applies to chemicals used in facilities that process materials and trim parts for use in the industry.
Chemicals in the ZDHC MRSL include solvents, cleaners, adhesives, paints, inks, detergents, dyes, colourants, auxiliaries, coatings and finishing agents used during raw material production, wet-processing, maintenance, wastewater treatment, sanitation and pest control.
The first ZDHC MRSL (version 1.0) was released in 2014, along with Chemical Guidance Sheets and was updated in December 2015 (version 1.1), to include leather. Now the ZDHC MRSL is being released in an electronic format, rather than a static PDF document.
“We are excited to announce the kick-off of our online version of the ZDHC MRSL, it helps implementing the list in the industry and increases the user experience significantly, by providing a much easier search and browse functionality within the framework,” said Frank Michel, ZDHC executive director.
With the ZDHC e-MRSL, users will be able to easily search for chemical substances, either by using the name of the substance or the CAS number. In the future it will also be possible to filter for different criteria and to translate the tool into multiple languages.
“With this new format, it is a lot easier for all parts of the value chain to search for substances that should not intentionally be used in the manufacturing process,” added Scott Echols, ZDHC programme director. “This tool will help us tremendously to support the implementation in facilities and will make it really easy to update the ZDHC MRSL in the future.“
From now on, ZDHC plans to update the ZDHC e-MRSL on an annual basis with version 2.0 scheduled to be released in Q1 of 2019.