Rite Aid

Rite Aid launched a Chemicals Policy in September 2018. In an updated version of the policy posted on its website in 2019, the company states it is engaging in “ongoing efforts to ensure that we meet the expectations of our customers in terms of the safety of some of the ingredients found in many products we sell today. Rite Aid is committed to working with our supplier partners to ensure the products we sell are safe and healthy for our customers and the environment, and to keeping our stakeholders informed about our continuous efforts and progress in selling safe products.”

Rite Aid has set public, quantifiable goals for reducing and eliminating CHCs in its products and has created a BRSL. The company stated in the Fall 2019 version of its policy: “In 2016, Rite Aid committed to eliminating eight chemicals of high concern from its private brand formulated products by 2020. These chemicals include: triclosan, propyl paraben, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, toluene, diethyl phthalate, butyl paraben, [and] nonylphenol ethoxylates.” However, in a separate communication in September 2019, staff members clarified that the elimination commitment does not generally apply to components of generic ingredients such as fragrance, but they expect to receive generic ingredient components from “own brand” suppliers in the future. The company noted in its 2019 corporate social responsibility report that it expanded its BRSL to 69 chemicals total in 2018, and in 2019, it continues to encourage suppliers to avoid ingredients not just on its BRSL but on the six authoritative lists on the BPC stewardship list (made up of thousands of chemicals of concern). Staff members also told us in September 2019 that in 2018, the company expanded its policy to cover national-brand formulated products, committing to screen all personal care and household cleaning products against its expanded BRSL and all personal care products against the BPC list. Staff also stated that the screening will formally occur in 2020. In the Fall 2019 update to its policy, Rite Aid notes that the company’s “long-term goal is to extend its chemical policy to cover all of the products sold in its stores.”

The company noted in the 2019 update to its policy that in 2020, it “plan[s] to extend [the chemical program] to cover food contact materials,” so we awarded half-credit for the packaging component.

Rite Aid also stated in this update that: “We will continue to review our operations to identify and act on emerging chemical issues that raise significant consumer concerns.” In September 2019, staff noted its associates wear polyethylene food service gloves, rather than PVC gloves that may contain toxic ortho-phthalates, at hand-dip ice cream counters in stores on the West Coast. We have awarded half-credit for the operations component to recognize both efforts.

Rite Aid does not have any stores outside of the U.S.

The company does not have a publicly available manufacturing restricted substance list (MRSL).

At least one Rite Aid senior vice president has responsibilities that include chemical safety. Additionally, staff reported that in 2019, Rite Aid created a position for a Corporate Responsibility Program Manager charged with coordinating the company’s chemical policy working group in the Corporate Social Responsiblity Committee. The working group’s purpose is “to review supplier compliance, address outstanding issues and to work on program refinement and enhancements.”

Rite Aid does not appear to offer financial incentives for senior management to implement its safer chemicals policy.

In 2019, Rite Aid staff told us that a staff person verifies that suppliers have provided independent third-party testing results confirming new in-scope items are free from “Evil 8 chemicals,” but if the supplier cannot provide these results, Rite Aid gets the item tested at the supplier’s expense. The company also told us that in 2020, Rite Aid will implement random item testing to validate ongoing compliance. We are awarding full credit for requiring third-party testing, but because Rite Aid only gets the items tested if the supplier does not, we are awarding half credit for Rite Aid conducting testing itself.

In Rite Aid’s 2019 update to its policy, the company stated that it “moved from survey-based assessments of RSL compliance to automated screening using the WERCSmart platform.” The company had planned for this to happen in late 2018, and according to staff, the company provided the newly released policy and expanded RSL and explained product screening expectations to the nearly 500 supplier partners at its annual supplier conference in September 2018. As of mid-October 2018, the company was finalizing vendor guidance documentation to be uploaded to its Supplier Portal to train vendors “on WERCSmart registration, Rite Aid data consent authorization, and product assessment reporting.” The vendor guidance document, which has been issued since then and updated further, is extensive and discusses supplier expectations related to the company’s chemical policy in detail. This guidance can serve as a model for other companies.

Rite Aid staff reported that the company is in the process of incorporating its safer chemicals policy into supplier contracts, and the chemical policy is already incorporated into an internal “onboarding checklist” and new item award letters.

In Rite Aid’s 2019 update to its policy, the company stated that it “moved from survey-based assessments of RSL compliance to automated screening using the WERCSmart platform. Suppliers are required to report all ingredients in their formulated products to WERCSmart.” In 2019, staff clarified that Rite Aid encourages private brand suppliers to disclose fragrance components, and the company expects, but will not require, private brand suppliers to disclose the components of generic ingredients into WERCSmart in 2020. According to statements by staff in 2018, WERCSmart’s records do not typically include information on impurities, and the 2019 update to its policy states: “We are … encouraging our suppliers to begin disclosing nonfunctional constituents (e.g., contaminants) in their products once this capability becomes available on WERCSmart.”

Rite Aid requires suppliers to report nanomaterials in products when they register those products in the WERCSmart platform, so an extra credit point is awarded to recognize this.

In 2017, Rite Aid stated: “Since last fall, we have seen a 59% decrease in both the number of suppliers reporting any presence of the CHCs Rite Aid is focusing on in formulated products and a 49% decrease in the reported number of total products containing the same CHCs. …[and] suppliers have indicated that the following four CHCs no longer exist in formulated products: triclosan, formaldehyde, diethyl phthalate, and dibutyl phthalate.”

In September 2018, Rite Aid stated: “The number of suppliers producing own-brand [a.k.a. private-brand] products for Rite Aid that contain these [initially listed chemicals of high concern] has dropped by 64%.” The company went on to state: “Most recent supplier surveys indicate that the number of own-brand products containing any of these [initially listed chemicals of high concern] has decreased by 54%.” Both of those statistics showed that Rite Aid was making progress in achieving its goals, and the company noted: “Rite Aid is on track to meet our elimination commitment by 2020.”

In September 2019, staff reported several positive metrics: “Since the introduction of our program and screening process, no new in-scope own brand items containing disclosed Evil 8 chemicals [the initially listed chemicals of high concern] have been approved or have made it to our shelves. Since October 2018, we have launched roughly 500 own brand items that are free of Evil 8 chemicals, and have successfully reformulated approximately 200 own brand items to eliminate Evil 8 chemicals.” Additionally, staff relayed compliance with the company’s 2020 elimination commitment. Out of the products for which primary formulation data is available (1,086 own-brand UPCs; primary formulations at this time generally exclude generic ingredient components), 93% comply with the commitment, over half of those that do not are being reformulated, and Rite Aid is working with suppliers to address the rest of the products. This is an improvement from 2018, when only 88% of own-brand products were in compliance with the commitment, as reported by staff in September 2019.

Since expanding its RSL to 69 total chemicals, staff reported in 2019 that 87% of own-brand products are free of all 69 chemicals, and 84% are free of chemicals on the BPC Stewardship List, which Rite Aid adopted to help identify emerging chemicals of concern. Staff also reported this year that about 9% of national brand products contain an “Evil 8” chemical and another 7% have an expanded RSL chemical. We encourage the company to quickly begin including – and ideally require the inclusion of – fragrance components in its elimination commitment and screening process, as some of the chemicals on its screening lists may be hidden by the generic term of “fragrance.”

The company also took action ahead of state and city bans and reformulated its own-brand sunscreen products with SPF under 50 to remove oxybenzone in late 2018; these products began appearing on shelves in February 2019. The company’s own-brand sunscreen with an SPF equaling 50 is currently being reformulated to remove oxybenzone.

Drawing on language from its RSL, Rite Aid’s 2019 corporate social responsibility report states: “We continue to encourage our supplier partners to avoid using ingredients on the RSL and the BPC Stewardship list, and use alternatives identified as ‘safer chemicals’ by the U.S. EPA Safer Choice program.” Rite Aid staff also reported to us in September 2019 that: “Suppliers are instructed to reformulate in-scope items that have been identified as containing chemicals on our RSL and the BPC Stewardship list. In addition to being referenced in our chemical policy, our ‘gatekeeper’ provides direct supplier guidance during the reformulation process, including specific reference to the EPA Safer Choice list. Rite Aid retests all reformulated products to confirm that appropriate substitutions have been made.”

Rite Aid’s safer chemicals policy and BRSL are publicly available. The company has also disclosed the identity of the six authoritative and regulatory lists that comprise the Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) stewardship list, which it plans to screen products against.

Rite Aid stated in its 2018 policy that it: “will encourage suppliers to publicly disclose all ingredients online or on pack, including the constituents of fragrance and other generic ingredients.” In 2019, the company updated the language in its policy and in its vendor guidance to convey it was encouraging a higher level of disclosure. Its supplier guidance document states that Rite Aid encourages “suppliers to publicly disclose all intentionally added ingredients (including the constituents of fragrance and other proprietary components and allergens) as well as nonfunctional constituents online and on pack (if practicable).” The policy also states: “Rite Aid is encouraging its own brand suppliers to replace generic ingredient names in their formulations with registered third-party components that identify the constituents in such components during 2020.”

In September 2019, the company reported that almost 150 own-brand product labels (on pack) show what chemicals the products do not contain, and for online sales, new “product attribute” filters have been added (some of which highlight ingredients that are not in the products), showing that the company is promoting on-pack and online disclosure.

Rite Aid is a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project and requests that its own brand suppliers of formulated products participate in the survey in 2020.

Rite Aid stated in its 2018 policy that it plans to “promote third-party certifications, such as US EPA Safer Choice products,” and although the company currently sells one Safer Choice-certified product and two “EWG Verified” products, the company does not appear to promote these products. The company reiterated these plans in September 2019 statements, and it appears that search filters highlighting certifications such as Safer Choice and Cradle to Cradle will be added to its website once the data is collected from suppliers through WERCSmart. Partial credit is awarded, as the plans have not yet been implemented, and full credit will be awarded after implementation.

Rite Aid participated in a joint public announcement with the Mind the Store Campaign about its then-new public chemical policy in September 2018.

Rite Aid continued making impressive strides in chemicals management in 2019. The company reported in 2019 that in 2018, it expanded its policy to national-brand formulated products. Additionally in 2019, the company reported new metrics indicating close to 100% compliance with its 2020 elimination commitment as related to its own-brand products and showing the percentage of national-brand products that are free from the chemicals subject to the elimination commitment, the percentage of own-brand and national-brand products that are free from the chemicals on its expanded RSL and the percentage of own-brand products free from chemicals on the extensive BPC list. The company also told us in September 2019 that it was developing a food packaging policy and RSL, and stated: “The key target areas for our RSL were identified through guidance by the Food Safety Alliance for Packaging (FSAP) along with support from our partners at UL.”

The company also became a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project over the past year and encourages its own-brand formulated suppliers to participate in the survey in 2020.

The company clarified this year that its elimination commitment and screening (at least for own-brand products), at this time, generally only applies to non-generic ingredients, and the company expects to receive information on generic ingredient components in the future.

Additionally, per its plans as stated in its 2018 safer chemicals policy, and for which we previously awarded credit, in 2019, Rite Aid reported that it “moved from survey-based assessments of RSL compliance to automated screening using the WERCSmart platform. Suppliers are required to report all ingredients in their formulated products to WERCSmart.” The company also followed through on completing the process to join the multi-stakeholder Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) leadership group.

Rite Aid’s website has a variety of search filters allowing customers to more easily search for safer products, at least in the skincare and bath & body subcategories within personal care. Under the heading of “Ingredient Preference,” the filters denote products that are labeled: all natural, BPA free, fragrance free, paraben free, petroleum free, phthalate free, preservative free, sulfate free, and talc free. The company also provides filters under “Allergy Option” for fragrance free, talc free, and dye free products. Partial credit is awarded since these filters represent a step in the right direction. We encourage Rite Aid to go further by ensuring all of the ingredients in its products are genuinely safer, not just that the products are free from a limited number of toxic chemicals.

As stated in its 2019 corporate social responsibility report, Rite Aid “joined the multi-stakeholder Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) Leadership Group to collaborate with various representatives from other retailers, brands, manufacturers, and non-profit organizations and to develop the BPC rating system – a common assessment tool for evaluating the sustainability of beauty and personal care products.” According to its Supplier Guidance document and staff statements, the company has requested all suppliers of beauty and personal care products (both own-brand and national-brand) participate in the BPC Product Sustainability Rating system beginning in 2020.