The ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v2.1 is an update to the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v1.1, with the primary objective of including the new substances listed in the ZDHC MRSL Guideline v2.1 in the ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v2.1. Additionally, the textile and leather guidelines have now been combined into a single document. There are other differences, such as the inclusion of a Candidate List (to give advance information to the industry on what to expect in future updates), a streamlined approach to sampling and testing for different types of discharge, the establishment of a threshold discharge volume of 15m3 per day and changes or additions in specific conventional parameters and testing methods.
For all stakeholders, there is a transition period between the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v1.1 and the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v2.1. Version 2.1 was published on 01 March 2022, with a transition period from 01 April 2022 (start of the review process of laboratory approval) and will end on 31 October 2022. During this transition period, the wastewater testing will take place according to the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v1.1. The sampling, testing and reporting against ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v2.0, for the April 2023 cycle starts from 01 November 2022 onwards. The transition period from ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v1.1 to ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v2.1 ends 31 October 2022 and as of then only ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v2.1 is applicable.
The ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v2.1 will only be applicable from the testing cycle of April 2023. This means that for the testing cycles of April and October 2022, the wastewater testing will be done as per the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines v1.1 only.
The ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v1.1 and ZDHC Wastwater Guideline v2.1 mandate testing twice a year of the wastewater at a supplier facility - before 30 April and before 31 October every year. There should be at least a 3 -month gap between the two testing cycles. The wastewater test reports for the two cycles must be uploaded to the supplier’s account in the ZDHC Gateway by the ZDHC approved wastewater test laboratory doing the sampling and testing. In case there are any non-conformities to the ZDHC Wastwater Guideline, the supplier must do a Root Cause Analysis to identify the cause, take corrective action and upload a Corrective Action Plan in its Gateway account. So, the intention of these testing cycles is to monitor the output chemical management at a manufacturing facility and take corrective actions in case any non-conformities are detected so that we move towards our goal of zero discharge of hazardous chemicals.
A supplier can decide to do the wastewater testing anytime between November - March and April - October. The uploading of the wastewater test report in the ZDHC Gateway should be completed before 30 April and 31 October in a calendar year. There should at least be a 3- month gap between the two testing cycles.
Metallic trim parts are currently out of the scope of the ZDHC MRSL Guidance. They will be part of the scope in the future. However, total heavy metal impurities from chemical and colorant formulations are included in the ZDHC MRSL Guidance.
The ClearStream Report is a summary of the test results as per the ZDHC Wastewater Guidelines. The minimum requirements in the ZDHC WWG are that the local legal requirements must be met by the supplier. The ClearStream Report gives an indication of non-conformities to the conventional and MRSL parameters listed in the ZDHC Wastewater Guideline so that the supplier can conduct a Root Cause Analysis in terms of input chemical management and/or wastewater treatment plant efficiency and take corrective actions so that these non-conformities are not repeated.