Management Approach: Product Stewardship
Protecting associates, customers and the environment by providing safe products is a priority for Avient. We review the safety of our products from our raw material suppliers through product development and manufacturing to end applications at the customer.
Product Stewardship supports the Avient portfolio by providing information related to the safe use, handling of products, and complying with global and local regulations. Continuous customer communications on product safety related to new and existing applications are an integral part of understanding the health and safety impacts of our product portfolio. Where it makes sense, we have gone beyond basic legal requirements, such as Responsible Care certification and implementation of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) Product Safety Code. For 2021, there have been zero incidences of non-compliance with both legally required and voluntary labeling standards and zero incidences of product recalls in the markets we serve for this reporting period.
Strategy
Avient is actively involved in various associations including the ACC, European MasterBatchers and Compounders (EuMBC) and Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA) Industry best practices and efforts to minimize impacts of our products on human health and the environment are based on a combination of lessons learned through these outreach programs and compliance.
Product Stewardship uses the ACC prioritization tool and associated risk assessment methodology to identify, document and communicate environmental, health and safety impacts of our products. 5% or less of our products by total sales revenue are classified as Global Harmonized System (GHS) category 1 and 2. These classifications and others, such as, environmental classifications (Persistent, Bioaccumulative Toxins—PBTs) and physical form contribute to the overall prioritization. Hazards are encapsulated in our solid polymers and not biologically available for exposure when used as intended. The majority of our products are not labeled or transported as hazardous materials. Despite this, we are committed to the process and have completed 40% of prioritized risk assessments. We recently set a goal to complete 100% of risk assessments on hazardous materials greater than >1 ton by 2025.
As a result of these assessments, we may publish additional substance safety summaries on our Avient website to update internal and external stakeholders on material handling and environmental considerations. We maintain data related to the environmental, health and safety of our products in our product stewardship database. The information is reviewed and updated continuously. Through this data, we create safety data sheet sand customer certification statements for intended use and product safety improvements.
In many instances, we have gone beyond basic legal requirements, such as our achieving Responsible Care® certification and implementation of the Product Safety Code. There have been zero incidences of non-compliance with these legal, voluntary or labeling requirements for this reporting period. Avient is proud to be actively involved with the ACC, EuMBC and TDMA associations.
Global Chemical Management
The current and future focus is on continued Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) assessments, reclassifications and communication on the safe use and handling of these substances. Many other countries are following suit on the EU REACH chemicals regulation or a similar framework. In 2021, we successfully completed the pre-registration for UK REACH post Brexit.
We continue to complete and update Poison Control Center notifications associated with our European portfolio. We continue to monitor risk assessments associated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) inventory reset rule. At this time, we believe we have no materials subject to EPA risk assessments.
Management and monitoring these global inventory changes and other emerging issues by our regional product stewardship experts ensures a quick evaluation and proactive response to potential regulatory risks. To further facilitate our and our customer’s management of these changes, Avient implemented a new software in 2021 to decrease overall response time. This commitment to managing and monitoring these business activities is demonstrated through our Global Chemical Management Policy. This policy was updated in 2021 to outline our risk assessment target and our commitment to animal welfare through our newly adopted Animal Testing Policy.
Product Excellence
Avient subscribes to several ISO Management Systems to ensure continual improvement. External third-party certification is an important part of ensuring our products are both safe and produced in alignment with industry standard best practices.
Avient has 103 global manufacturing facilities. 97% of these sites are certified through independent third parties to various management system standards. These international standards cover areas of Quality, Environmental, Health and Safety, Automotive, Medical Device, Responsible Care and Energy Management. Combined, Avient facilities have a total of 286 management system certifications. For this reporting period, there have been no major non-conformances associated with these management systems. There have been zero product recalls associated with the quality of Avient products. For our sensitive applications we have implemented Good Manufacturing Processes (GMP). 100% of our facilities and warehouses producing or distributing for the healthcare market are GMP or ISO audited within a 3–year period. There were no significant audit findings preventing manufacturing in this reporting period.
Avient recognizes that given our location in the supply chain we are well positioned to enable sustainability along the value chain, through innovation at the early to mid-stages of the product life cycle. The most material aspect of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is our Product Carbon Footprint (PCF).
In 2021, we partnered with Carbon Minds to standardize our approach to PCF, which is certified for ISO 14040/140440 compliance by TÜV Rheinland*. Our goal in 2022 is to fully automate this process and begin generating PCF data for the Avient portfolio.
ZERO
Major Non-Conformances at ISO Sites
>97 %
Manufacturing Sites certified to an International Standard
ZERO
Product Recalls