Starting next month, Bluesign will publish threshold limits for chemical substances in finished products such as textile auxiliaries or dyes that are listed as having carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic properties.

The new Bluesign System Black Limits (BSBL) will also cover substances that fall under POP (persistent organic pollutant) regulation and lists monomers used in textile dyes and chemicals such as acrylamide, acrylonitrile or ethylene oxide.

“The idea behind the BSBL is different from the MRSL approach,” said the company. “Unlike MRSL, the BSBL is not intended to be sent out to the supply chain for the purpose of obtaining a less substantial and conclusive compliance declaration from the supply chain maze. Rather, its main purpose is to manage hazardous substances in finished chemical products.

“When limits are publicly available, transparency increases.”

From July 1st, bluesign will release a list of chemicals on its new BSBL that are included from its publicly available bluesign system substance list (BSSL) – where a usage ban is defined.

Potentially hazardous chemicals contained in finished dyes and auxiliaries that will be appear on the ‘black list’ include potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic or those toxic for reproduction (CMR) – along with the building blocks of polymers.

“The BSBL contains monomers such as acrylamide, acrylonitrile, or ethylene oxide,” said Bluesign. And all these substances must be monitored by system partners in the chemical industry during the manufacture of polymers, including the widely-used fatty alcohol ethoxylates. “Textile industry relevant SVHC per the EU definition are mentioned in the BSBL directly with limits which are mostly lower than the EU threshold of 1000 ppm. For SVHCs which are not specifically listed, there is a fixed threshold limit of 1000 ppm,” it noted.

While the limits depend on the relevant application situation and exposure scenario, the BSBL limits give minimum threshold limits regardless of the type of application. “A precautionary hazard-based approach is strictly followed,” says bluesign.

All chemical substances regulated under the bluesign system are managed via its own web-based software for chemical assessment and rating. The data for all these chemicals is then registered in the bluesign ‘Finder’, that is made available to its system partners.

This allows, it says, “allows for a well-founded assessment of the respective chemical products, and limits for substances in chemical products (included in BSBL) as well as in consumer products (included in BSSL) can be derived.”

All chemicals registered in the bluesign ‘Finder’ have passed the bluesign chemical assessment and comply with the new BSBL limits.

source: ecotextile.com