I clearly remember the conversations in Washington D.C. when the idea for the Mind the Store campaign was hatched. My former boss and friend, Andy Igrejas, wasn’t pleased with the lack of sincere engagement from the chemical industry as we navigated the legislative process. And so he decided to scale up the most painful part of the consumer marketplace, fondly referred to as “retail regulation”.
Recently the Mind the Store campaign released their latest report card which ranks over 40 retailers on how well they are addressing toxic chemicals in their products. In the years since the campaign was developed, the Mind the Store campaign has been kicking ass, working with major retailers and transitioning harmful chemicals in consumer products off the market.
This is the third report card they have released and have expanded the scope to include beauty retailers, restaurants, and e-commerce sites like Amazon.
Retailers in the lead
The results of which retailers lead the way may surprise you! For a full list of the retailers please refer to the report HERE and be sure to click on your favorite retailers specific page to learn more. Note that the leaders and laggards outlined are just a segment of the overall report, please read the scorecard in full to see the complete list!
The leaders:
The laggards:
How retailers are assessed
Using comprehensive and fair criteria, the Mind the Store team analyzes many factors including: does the retailer have a formal policy to reduce and ultimately remove toxic chemicals from consumer products, how many toxic chemicals have they banned from products, how transparent are they, and do they simply allow companies to use equally harmful chemicals (ie replacing BPA for BPS), etc.
How you can help
Do you love Costco (raises hand) or Starbucks? Bummed to see how poorly they ranked? Send them an email and let them know how disappointed you are and that you want them to make serious efforts to improve their score for the next report. Consumer activism is a main driver for companies and your voice can be used to help make our families, food, products and homes a little bit healthier!
You can also join the Mind the Store email list and take action HERE.
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What does it mean when they have a 0…wondering if that means there was no data? Either way not good but wondered if they opted out of participating which is a red flag anyway.
It essentially means they have no (or do not disclose that they have) robust safer chemicals management program relevant to our 14 detailed criteria.