Stahl

Customer health and safety: replacing restricted substances

Our products add functionality, durability and comfort to many materials used in everyday life. From tables to clothing to car dashboards. As the world leader in leather chemicals and high-performance coatings, we care for our customers’ health and safety. That’s why we are striving to phase out restricted and hazardous substances and replace them with more sustainable alternatives.

What we do on customer health and safety

We do this by working closely with consumer brands to anticipate restrictions and act proactively. One example of this is the Stahl MRSL (Manufacturing Restricted Substances List) and the internal MRSL Compliance Checker we developed. These indicate whether there are restricted substances present and that the materials used in a product are MRSL compliant.
The Stahl MRSL also includes the ZDHC list of restricted substances, which makes life for our clients easier. In our communications, we indicate whenever a Stahl product complies with the Stahl MRSL, the ZDHC MRSL or both.
Stahl also is a bluesign® system partner. This means we also focus on replacing restricted substances in our products with alternative substances that comply with the bluesign® substance list.

Compliant product portfolios

The products in our leather and synthetics portfolios meet all current health and safety standards and in many cases go further, too:

  • Stahl Neo® is our portfolio of ZDHC MRSL compliant leather chemicals covering every stage from wet-end to finishing. It enables tanners to produce high quality leather more sustainably.

  • Our Stahl EVO® products represent a new generation of top-coats, skins, adhesives and foams for synthetic materials and other substrates. These are all fully compliant with ZDHC MRSL as well as being free of VOCs, APEO and DMF(A).

Promoting good practices with Stahl Campus®

Part of our customer health and safety activities involve promoting transparency and responsible practices throughout the supply chain. Through the Stahl Campus®, we strengthen knowledge via theory-focused and practical training modules, and we share and show the latest responsible technologies, such as our more sustainable Stahl EasyWhite Tan® tanning technology.

Supporting brands in lowering VOCs

The materials used in car dashboards, door trims and seats provide a good example of how safety is key regarding the use of hazardous substances. The increasing emphasis on aesthetics and structure is driving the rise of alternative materials and performance coatings that may contain VOCs. These compounds are released over time, especially when the temperature rises, impacting air quality inside the vehicle and, potentially, the comfortand health of drivers and passengers.
The VDA and ISO methods established to test and analyze VOC emissions are comprehensive. Every substrate can be tested in a variety of ways, allowing the use of many chemical compositions. This makes each test unique and analyzing and comparing results a complex and time-consuming process. Having the necessary test equipment in-house means we can support our clients with custom-made advice on the various substrates they plan to use in a car interior and test and advise on alternatives that emit no or low VOCs

Customer Health and Safety by GRI

Customer Health and Safety includes an organization’s efforts to address health and safety across the life cycle of a product of services, and its adherence to regulations and codes.