The goal of the ZDHC Wastewater Guideline V.2.1 is to eliminate the discharge of hazardous chemicals in the textile, apparel, leather, and footwear industries. Having one single expectation makes it easier for suppliers to implement guidance and therefore accomplish this goal. For suppliers an aligned set of metrics, rather than multiple overlapping brand requirements, reduces testing. For Brands, it allows the use of information from already completed testing and the ability to track supplier progress of continuous improvement using the 3 levels; Foundational, Progressive and Aspirational.

Yes. ClearStream reports relating to ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines V2.1 testing include a performance scoring mechanism for; conventional parameters, metals, anions, and ZDHC MRSL parameters, Which are benchmarked to a maximum score out of 100 for each type of discharge. There is no scoring for the sludge parameters testing.

Sampling, testing, and reporting on the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines V2.1 are to be completed at least twice per year, at the latest by 30^th April and 31^st October (from 2023 onwards). Sampling, testing, and reporting can occur anytime during each reporting cycle, as long as there are at least 3 months between sample dates for the 2 reporting deadlines. Suggested reporting deadlines per year: 1^st November - 30^th April and 1^st May - 30^th October.

No. It does not depend on the size of the facility. It depends only on the discharge type and daily discharge volume of industrial wastewater as below.

To get more information on each discharge type, please refer to pages 58-65 of the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines V2.1 (https://downloads.roadmaptozero.com/output/ZDHC-Wastewater-Guidelines)

It is up to individual brands (whether or not they are ZDHC Contributors) to encourage their value chain to implement the guidelines and undertake testing.

Since 01 November 2022, all Suppliers are requested to have wastewater testing performed according to the ZDHC Wastewater and Sludge Guidelines V2.1. Nevertheless, if they have an indirect discharge or ZLD that generates on average less than 15m3 of industrial wastewater per day, then sampling and testing is not mandatory.

It is possible for you to check if a Supplier is generating less than 15m3 of industrial wastewater per day directly in the ZDHC Gateway. To do so you need to access the Supplier’s ZDHC Gateway  Profile and click on the section “CERTIFICATES, REPORTS & DOCUMENTS”.

Please have a look at this Knowledge Base article to see guidance on how to do this in the ZDHC Gateway.