TÜV Rheinland: Strategic partnership with digital chemical management platform The BHive

Seamless approach to chemical testing and chemicals management for the textile and fashion industry / accelerating the phase out of hazardous chemical products from textile production

With the goal to offer a seamless approach to chemical testing and management to the textile and fashion industry, TÜV Rheinland and The BHive have agreed on a strategic partnership. The partners will offer a holistic service portfolio to new and existing customers from both TÜV Rheinland and The BHive, covering the entire chemicals management process from input to process and output.

Consumers of today are becoming more conscious of environmental impact associated with the manufacturing process of consumer products. With the calling of a cleaner and more sustainable chemicals management in the fashion and textile industry, manufacturers are under rising pressure from brands and retailers to increase chemical transparency and demonstrate good control of chemicals used throughout the production process.

As partners of the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) program, The BHive and TÜV Rheinland aim to promote industry best-practice tools and standards. The BHive is an approved solution provider for the ZDHC Performance InCheck. TÜV Rheinland is accredited by ZDHC as MRSL Level 3 certifier, laboratory for wastewater and sludge analysis and academy training provider. The organization is also a Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) approved Facility Environmental Module (FEM) Verifier Body and Trainer Body.

Lars Doemer, Managing Director of GoBlu International Ltd., the company behind The BHive, commented: “We believe that this strategic partnership with TÜV Rheinland is a critical step towards our shared goal of accelerating the phase out of hazardous chemical products from textile production. Moreover, we aim to promote overall supply chain transparency in the industry. As one of the world’s leading testing service providers, we see TÜV Rheinland as a strong partner on this journey towards the improvement of chemicals management.”

Mohammed Dkhissi, Global Field Manager Softlines from TÜV Rheinland stated: “The BHive offers a smart and innovative solution to the otherwise complex process of chemicals management. By partnering with The BHive, we are expanding our sustainability service portfolio. We are proud to now announce our joint goal of offering a seamless approach to sustainable chemicals management, which will help promote the use of safer chemical alternatives in textile production and provide increased visibility of the chemical supply chain to our clients in the fashion industry.”

The BHive is a smart, digital chemicals management platform developed by sustainability accelerator GoBlu International Ltd. for the textile and fashion industry. The BHive mobile app allows manufacturing facilities to take smartphone photos of chemical product labels, and within seconds identify which products meet the sustainability requirements of many brands and retailers. Once uploaded to the desktop platform, the system automatically generates a full and accurate chemical inventory. Moreover, the user is enabled to create the ZDHC Performance InCheck Report through the platform.

Facilities can then see which chemicals they should phase out – all at a glance. They can also share this information with their brand and retailer clients, who as a result have a full overview of chemicals used across their global supply chain. This way, The BHive enables radical transparency and promotes the use of more sustainable chemical products.

TÜV Rheinland stands for safety and quality in virtually all areas of business and life. Founded 150 years ago, the company is one of the world’s leading testing service providers with more than 20,600 employees and annual revenues of around 2 billion euros. TÜV Rheinland’s highly qualified experts test technical systems and products around the world, support innovations in technology and business, train people in numerous professions and certify management systems according to international standards. In doing so, the independent experts generate trust in products as well as processes across global value-adding chains and the flow of commodities. Since 2006, TÜV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption.

Find out more about the partnership here.