WASTEWATER AND CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT
Wastewater and Chemicals
We’re proud of our facilities and the communities where they are located.
That’s why HBI has rigorous, industry-leading wastewater and chemical management programs at our owned facilities. These programs support our efforts to make our products with safe substances to protect our consumers, our associates, our communities, and our shared environment.
We were one of the first companies to institute a comprehensive chemical management program way back in 1991. Since then, any chemical considered for use in facilities operated by us—from research and development to the manufacturing of our products—must, in addition to meeting all applicable legal requirements, also meet our internal standards and receive corporate-level approval.
This chemical approval process carefully evaluates all potential chemical ingredients, excluding harmful substances from our manufacturing process from the start, to help assure the safety of our products.
We maintain a detailed database of all chemicals used across our facilities with regulatory links to verify global compliance. Our comprehensive Restricted Substances List includes a broad spectrum of restricted chemicals, including non-regulated chemicals of concern.
We also require our suppliers to have chemical management systems and to abide by our Restricted Substances List. We specifically audit against these requirements.
As part of the hazard and risk-based chemical approval process, HBI has contracted with the chemical management software provider Sphera. We use the Sphera system for our owned facilities to house facility chemical inventories and scrub all new chemicals against global regulations and a range of restricted substances lists. Our own Restricted Substances List is based on the American Apparel and Footwear Association list, whose creation was led by HBI and other industry peers. Our Restricted Substances List also incorporates Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) requirements, and we maintain a separate Restricted Substances List specifically for packaging.
Going forward, we have committed to formally adopting ZDHC as our Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL).
Wastewater Treatment
To promote the safety of our wastewater, we own and operate state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants at our textile facilities around the world.
We test wastewater daily at our on-site labs and work with third-party experts to evaluate our wastewater treatment systems in our efforts to implement leading practices.
To support proper management of chemicals and wastewater throughout our business ecosystem, we also contractually require all suppliers of sourced products to meet our stringent standards. Our systems treat 100% of the wastewater from our manufacturing facilities, following procedures outlined in our robust Global Environmental, Health and Safety System (GEHS). Lab managers and operators at each plant perform multiple tests daily to assure treatment efficacy and adherence to standards, while a network of wastewater experts across the company helps to keep our treatment plants in peak operating order. To fulfill regulatory requirements and provide the data to enable ongoing improvements, we also maintain a meticulous system of monitoring, record-keeping and reporting.
To hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards, HBI has also committed to aligning our wastewater with ZDHC wastewater standards and reporting through the Roadmap to Zero platform.
Wastewater Treatment
To promote the safety of our wastewater, we own and operate state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants at our textile facilities around the world.
We test wastewater daily at our on-site labs and work with third-party experts to evaluate our wastewater treatment systems in our efforts to implement leading practices.
To support proper management of chemicals and wastewater throughout our business ecosystem, we also contractually require all suppliers of sourced products to meet our stringent standards. Our systems treat 100% of the wastewater from our manufacturing facilities, following procedures outlined in our robust Global Environmental, Health and Safety System (GEHS). Lab managers and operators at each plant perform multiple tests daily to assure treatment efficacy and adherence to standards, while a network of wastewater experts across the company helps to keep our treatment plants in peak operating order. To fulfill regulatory requirements and provide the data to enable ongoing improvements, we also maintain a meticulous system of monitoring, record-keeping and reporting.
To hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards, HBI has also committed to aligning our wastewater with ZDHC wastewater standards and reporting through the Roadmap to Zero platform.