Value chain engagement

The buy-in and active involvement of the value chain will be essential to the overall success of the programme.

Collaboration with distributors and downstream users is the only way to ensure sustainability goals are met, as there are limits to what ECSA members can achieve in their own right.

1. All ECSA members will adhere to ESAD/SQAS or a similar distributor assessment scheme

ESAD (European Single Assessment Document) is part of the SQAS (Safety & Quality Assessment System) that is a system to evaluate the quality, safety, security and environmental performance of Logistics Service Providers and Chemical Distributors.

ESAD enables chemical producing companies to have the quality and safety management systems of their distributors assessed in a uniform manner, thus avoiding multiple assessments by each individual chemical company. Currently over 280 active assessment reports of distributors and their sites are listed in the ESAD database.

All ECSA members have committed themselves to the ESAD/SQAS programme.

2. All distributors which are part of ESAD/SQAS or a similar programme will comply positively with a high score on the chlorinated solvents section of the questionnaire

The ESAD assessment questionnaire consists of four parts: Distributor Standard Activities, Site Assessment, Chlorinated Solvents, and Food, Cosmetic and/or Pharma. The questions on chlorinated solvents emphasize  the specific needs associated with chlorinated solvents and are provided together with guidelines for consideration by chlorinated solvent producers and distributors as a way to implement Responsible Care® continuous improvement initiatives (source: www.sqas.org).

A continuous yearly increase in positive answers of distributors, under the chlorinated solvent part, has been recognized in the ESAD programme since 2007. This leads to consistently high scores of distributors in the ESAD assessment.

ECSA has actively participated in a revision of the ESAD questionnaire for chlorinated solvents.

3. ECSA will put together awareness programmes, in partnership with trade associations representing end-users, to help ensure the sustainable use of chlorinated solvents

ECSA has already put six different awareness programmes in place:

• Chlorinated Solvents: Awareness Questionnaire to the Value Chain
• Chlorinated Solvents: Revised Guidance on Storage and Handling of Chlorinated Solvents
• Chlorinated Solvents: Revised Safety & Quality Assessment Questionnaire for Distributors of Chlorinated Solvents (ESAD)
• Dichloromethane: OECD HPV SIDS Commitment
• Perchloroethylene: E-DryClean sustainable dry cleaning processing
• Trichloroethylene: Charter for the safe use of Trichloroethylene

See more information about the six different awareness programmes  page

4. ECSA will put together, in partnership with other trade associations representing recyclers, awareness programmes to help promote the sustainable recovery of chlorinated solvents

ECSA is in contact with the European Solvent Recyclers Group (ESRG), which aims to promote the safe and economic management of post-use solvents (www.esrg-online.eu). ECSA is regularly in dialogue with ESRG on latest information about chlorinated solvents.