Welcome to the International Chemicals Management Toolkit for the Toy Supply Chain!

About this toolkit

This international toolkit was developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Economy Division, Chemicals and Health Branch in collaboration with the Baltic Environment Forum (BEF). It has been developed within the framework of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) project ID: 9771 on Global Best Practices on Emerging Chemical Policy Issues of Concern under the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).

Whom this toolkit is for

The toolkit is intended to support stakeholders in the toys industry. Depending on where your organisation is in the value chain, here you will find useful information, guidance and tools to support you in your work.

What this toolkit can help you with

The toolkit helps you with tracking and managing chemicals in your products, fulfilling your chemicals-related legal obligations and protecting children from chemicals of concern in toys. It is about knowing what chemicals you use and avoiding those that are of concern.

The toolkit aims to raise awareness on occurrences and risks related to chemicals of concern in toy materials at the early stages of the value chain, with a focus on plastics. The toolkit informs you how to substitute chemicals of concern and provides guidance on how to communicate on chemicals to consumers.

Besides, the toolkit provides information, tips, and guiding questions for stakeholders interested in going further than regulatory compliance.

Toolkit’s sections and how to use the toolkit

The toolkit is separated into 6 sections, with an additional section containing explanations of terms, which you can access via the main navigation of this webpage.

If you have not yet worked on chemicals and chemicals management, you may check out this toolkit in the sequence of the sections (e.g., navigation from left to right; number 1 to number 6). If you have specific challenges to address, you may also choose to focus only on the section that is relevant to that aspect. All sections are interrelated and links are provided throughout the different sections.

The types of tools in a section

The toolkit provides the following types of tools. Each section may contain some or all of these tools, depending on what type of support is needed for the task at hand.

Guidance documents Brief and basic explanation of an issue giving an overview and orientation on what to consider
Training materials (slides) Slides you can use to train your staff, your customers, or your suppliers. The slides usually summarise and illustrate the content of the guidance
Checklists and flow-charts Checklists and flow-charts help you to step-by-step assess an issue and find out what you can do (next). They may be linked to other elements of the toolkit to help you using them
Implementation tools Tools that you can implement in your work routines, e.g. a chemicals inventory template
Link lists Here you find links to resources that either provide further information or could be used as (additional) tools.
Examples Specific cases illustrate how the toolkit can be applied in practice.
Flyers
‘Going beyond!’
Information on what can be done beyond legal compliance and / or to ensure staying up to date on chemicals
Block id is _-background
Block id is _-legislation
Block id is _-supplier-communication
Block id is _-chemicals-inventory
Block id is _-take-action
Block id is _-informing-customers
Block id is explanation-of-terms

Disclaimer

The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or area or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. For general guidance on matters relating to the use of maps in publications please go to http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/english/htmain.htm

Mention of a commercial company or product in this document does not imply endorsement by the United Nations Environment Programme or the authors. The use of information from this document for publicity or advertising is not permitted. Trademark names and symbols are used in an editorial fashion with no intention on infringement of trademark or copyright laws.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Environment Programme. We regret any errors or omissions that may have been unwittingly made.

Avatar