Home Depot

In 2017, The Home Depot announced its Chemical Strategy. It includes commitments to restrict hazardous chemicals of concern, such as flame retardants, PFOA and PFOS, phthalates, vinyl chloride, and triclosan, from key product categories, including paints, vinyl, and laminate flooring, wall-to-wall carpet, and fiberglass insulation. The company stated: “The chemical strategy includes commitments to increase the assortment of products that have transparency of product ingredients and third-party certification of chemical ingredients. Additionally, the company is committed to working with suppliers to improve chemicals in categories with the greatest potential impact to indoor air quality, and will conduct annual reviews of product categories to track progress and drive innovation.” The policy includes a commitment to eliminate alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) in paint by 2019 and to ensure that all of its paints contain zero or low amounts of VOC by December 2020.

In 2019, the company announced it was banning PFAS in all carpets and rugs sold in the U.S., Canada, and online. It plans to expand this commitment to Mexico.

In June 2018, the company announced it was phasing out the sale of paint strippers containing methylene chloride and NMP by the end of 2018 in all of its stores throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

However, some of its Chemical Strategy appears to only apply to the U.S. and Canada, so only partial credit is awarded for this component.

In April 2018, the company expanded its Chemical Strategy by announcing restrictions on nine chemicals from household cleaning products sold online and in The Home Depot stores by the end of 2022.

The policy does not appear to apply to operations or packaging, and the company does not have a publicly available manufacturing restricted substance list (MRSL).

The Home Depot has multiple staff members who work on sustainability, including implementing its chemicals policy. The Chief Sustainability Officer presents the company’s progress in chemical management and updates to the chemical policy to the Board of Directors each year in person during a quarterly meeting.

The Home Depot does not appear to offer financial incentives for senior management to implement its safer chemicals policy.

The company stated on the topic of accountability: “The Home Depot has Global Operations Managers that help enforce the chemical policy during the supplier set-up process. Home Depot has a (CCP) Chemical Compliance Program that is updated on an annual basis and includes all suppliers that provide product that is covered by our chemical policy. The program requires written compliance signatures from the suppliers.” They went on to note that: “Each of the programs have a compliance date. All suppliers are expected to be in compliance as of the compliance date. Those that cannot comply are removed from our active supplier list if they cannot comply.”

The company provides some training to implement its policy. The Home Depot notes: “Depending of [sic] the complexity of the requirements the notifications range from in person training classes with HD personnel to policy letters with instructions and follow up contacts.”

For some products and product categories under its Chemical Strategy, The Home Depot requires suppliers to meet certain third-party standards that require third-party laboratory testing. For example, “All indoor wall-to-wall carpet sold through The Home Depot U.S. and Canada has a third-party verification of transparency through DECLARE® Label or Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), or certification of material health through Cradle to Cradle™ Products Innovation Institute or CRI Green Label Plus®.”Laminate flooring, “is verified by either GREENGUARD® Gold or FloorScore® certification to contain 0.0073 ppm or less of formaldehyde, which is a stricter standard than the EPA TSCA Title VI of 0.05 ppm.”

The Home Depot has not specifically disclosed that it conducts its own testing to ensure suppliers comply with its safer chemicals policy.

The Home Depot’s Chemical Strategy states: “The Home Depot is committed to increasing our assortment of products that have transparency of product ingredients and third-party certification of chemical ingredients, and that meet high environmental standards.” We note that the company’s commitment to transparency seems to be muted when restated in the 2019 Responsibility Report, as “transparency of product ingredients” is omitted in the report’s version of the strategy. The Home Depot states that for wall-to-wall carpeting, “all indoor wall-to-wall carpet sold through The Home Depot U.S. and Canada has a third-party verification of transparency through DECLARE® Label or Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), or certification of material health through Cradle to Cradle™ Products Innovation Institute or CRI Green Label Plus®.” For this business-to-consumer transparency initiative, points were awarded under the Transparency criterion of this rubric (#7).

More recently, the company shared: “(The) Home Depot mandates that its suppliers use the WERCSmart program that requires chemical ingredient transparency for products sold to Home Depot. This requirement goes above the regulatory requirements for chemical transparency. The company uses this data in various practices to review and monitor chemical ingredients.” The company states this disclosure applies to: “all products that contain chemicals and are in a non-solid physical state,” including both private-label and brand-name products, and applies to “all chemicals,” including fragrance ingredients, allergens, nanomaterials, and likely contaminants.

This disclosure does not apply to articles.

The Home Depot’s expanded Chemical Strategy sets restrictions on numerous CHCs in household cleaning products, paint strippers, paints, vinyl flooring, laminate flooring, wall-to-wall carpeting, and fiberglass insulations. In 2019, the company reported new metrics for implementing its policy and that the company is on track to meet the goals it has set for reducing hazardous chemicals in cleaning products, paints, carpet, and insulation. It reported the reduction is 65% complete for paint, 95% complete for carpet, 90% complete for insulation, and 99% complete for cleaning products.

In September 2019, The Home Depot announced that it will phase out the sale of all carpets and rugs containing PFAS chemicals. The company will stop purchasing for distribution any carpets or rugs containing PFAS chemicals by the end of 2019. This decision applies to all of its stores in the U.S. and Canada and online sales. The company plans to address carpets and rugs sold in its Mexico stores next.

In 2018, the company set new timelines to remove toxic chemicals from paint strippers and household cleaning products. The company was the third major retailer to announce restrictions on methylene chloride and NMP in paint strippers. In early 2019, the Mind the Store campaign identified paint strippers still being sold at The Home Depot containing methylene chloride and NMP. A few weeks later, a representative of The Home Depot told us that the company was removing its remaining inventory of methylene chloride- and NMP-containing paint removal products from shelves. Additionally, The Home Depot has now configured its register systems to block the sale of any methylene chloride- or NMP-containing paint removal products to customers.

In 2017, the company announced it has been working with its suppliers to reduce and eliminate nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) and other alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs), among other chemicals, in paints by 2019.

The Home Depot was the first major home improvement retailer to commit to phase out all ortho-phthalates in its vinyl flooring within one year, setting a major precedent for other home improvement chains and flooring retailers who followed suit in 2015. This is very significant as flooring was one of the biggest uses of phthalates worldwide. Recent testing by the Ecology Center and Mind the Store campaign has confirmed The Home Depot has followed through on its commitment to phase out ortho-phthalates in vinyl flooring.

The company has also reported progress in reducing some plastics of concern in packaging. In its most recent sustainability report, the company reported that in: “2018, we eliminated more than 517,600 cubic feet — enough to keep six Olympic-size swimming pools of EPS foam out of landfills” and added: “In 2018, our packaging team eliminated 1.6 million square feet of PVC film from private-brand packaging, enough to cover 28 football fields.”

Over the years, the company has reported that it removed and reduced VOC’s from interior paint sold at The Home Depot, reducing indoor pollutants by 27 million pounds per year.

The Home Depot has not developed clear public guidance for evaluating the safety of alternatives, but the company has committed to selling products that are “safer for the environment.” The company is promoting safer alternatives by indirectly encouraging suppliers to manufacture products to credible third-party standards, such as Cradle to Cradle and Safer Choice, through its Eco Options program.

The company committed to phasing out the sale of paint removal products containing methylene chloride and NMP by the end of 2018. However, recent research has identified The Home Depot selling other paint removal products containing chemicals of concern that meet the GreenScreen Benchmark 1 criteria. The Home Depot must do a better job of ensuring substitutes for methylene chloride and NMP are safe.

In 2017, The Home Depot published its Chemical Strategy on its website and in its Responsibility Report. The strategy initially included lists of ingredients that the company restricts in paints, vinyl flooring, laminate flooring, wall-to-wall carpeting, and fiberglass insulation. In 2018, the company expanded its Chemical Strategy by disclosing chemicals it is restricting in cleaning products and paint strippers. The company has committed to evaluate its Chemical Strategy “annually to ensure [its] approach, goals and disclosure are appropriate and meet the needs of [its] stakeholders” and updated it in September 2019.

The company states: “The Home Depot is committed to increasing our assortment of products that have transparency of product ingredients and third-party certification of chemical ingredients and that meet high environmental standards.” The company states that “all indoor wall-to-wall carpet sold through The Home Depot U.S. and Canada has a third-party verification of transparency through DECLARE Label or Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), or certification of material health through Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute or CRI Green Label Plus.” Ingredient information recorded through these programs can be challenging for consumers to find. Additionally, while this is notable, environmental product declarations do not always provide sufficient information about chemicals in products.

Partial credit is awarded as it is unclear how far The Home Depot’s strategy will promote the public disclosure of ingredients in products online or on product packaging or lead to the public disclosure of the identity of articles or formulated products that are free of CHCs going beyond regulatory compliance.

The Home Depot has not made any discernible progress on measuring its chemical footprint via the Chemical Footprint Project.

The Home Depot sells and features numerous products on its website that meet credible third-party standards, such as Safer Choice, Cradle to Cradle, and GreenGuard Gold, through its Eco Options program. In its Chemical Strategy, the company stated it “is committed to increasing [its] assortment of products that have…third-party certification of chemical ingredients” and in 2018, it expanded its Eco Options program to include the third-party certification programs Cradle to Cradle Certified™ and GREENGUARD® Gold. The company relaunched its EcoOptions website in 2019. These programs are, as a result, incentivizing suppliers to meet these credible third-party standards.

The Home Depot briefed the Mind the Store campaign in advance of its public announcement banning PFAS in carpets and rugs (in September 2019) and methylene chloride and NMP in paint strippers (in June 2018).

In September 2019, The Home Depot announced that it will phase out the sale of all carpets and rugs containing PFAS chemicals. The company will stop purchasing for distribution any carpets or rugs containing PFAS chemicals by the end of 2019. This decision applies to all of its stores in the U.S. and Canada and online sales. The company plans to address carpets and rugs sold in its Mexico stores next.

In 2019, the company also addressed gaps in the implementation of its ban on toxic paint strippers and relaunched its Eco Options website.

In 2015, The Home Depot became the first major retailer to ban the sale of ortho-phthalates in vinyl flooring. In 2017, the company launched its Chemical Strategy, which includes commitments to restrict CHCs, such as flame retardants, PFOA and PFOS, phthalates, vinyl chloride, and triclosan, from key product categories, including paints, vinyl, and laminate flooring, wall-to-wall carpet, and fiberglass insulation. In 2018, The Home Depot significantly expanded its policy by announcing new restrictions on nine chemicals in household cleaning products by the end of 2022, and a ban on the sale of paint strippers containing methylene chloride and NMP in all of its stores by the end of 2018.

The Home Depot’s Chemical Strategy includes a commitment to selling more products that are safer and meet credible third-party standards. Some of those products and standards are featured in its new sustainability report. The company states it “sell[s] a variety of products and recognizes [its] unique responsibility in helping improve products through the promotion of safer chemicals.” Home Depot’s Eco Options program makes it easier for customers to identify safer products, such as cleaning products certified by Safer Choice as well as other products to promote “healthy homes” and “clean air.” In October 2017, the company announced it is “expanding its Eco Options program…to include the third-party certification programs Cradle to Cradle Certified™ and GREENGUARD® Gold.” The company also states that as “a part of the company’s sustainability strategy, merchants and suppliers place a priority on products that feature reduced environmental impacts. The company reviews the collective impact of those products annually for sustainable forestry practices, energy and emissions reduction, material reduction, water savings, and chemical use reduction.” In January 2019, the company relaunched the Eco Options website.

The Home Depot states it “supports the work of the Green Chemistry & Commerce Council (GC3) through annual membership and participation in the Retail Leadership Council of the GC3, and [it] participated in developing the GC3’s Joint Statement on using Green Chemistry and Safer Alternatives to Advance Sustainable Products.”