Late last week Amazon announced that it will ban certain toxic chemicals and plastics in the food packaging materials used for its Amazon Kitchen private brand. Toxic chemicals PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), phthalates, BPA (bisphenol A) and other bisphenols, and the plastics polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), and expanded polystyrene (EPS) are now restricted in certain private label food contact materials. Amazon’s new commitment is the latest update to the chemicals policy it first launched in 2018, which also restricts toxic chemicals in private-label baby, household cleaning, personal care, and beauty products as well as brand-name paint-removal products.

Amazon’s new restricted substance list (RSL) applies to its Amazon Kitchen private brand products sold in Amazon Go, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Fresh, and Fresh grocery delivery. It does not apply to other private label or Amazon brand-name food contact materials.

Amazon’s newly released list of restricted chemicals also includes perchlorate, benzophenone, lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, and the solvents NMP (N-Methylpyrrolidone), 2-Ethoxyethanol, 2-Methoxyethanol, and toluene. In addition to PVC, PS, and EPS, the company also announced it is prohibiting the following non-recyclable plastics in its food contact packaging: polycarbonates (PC), polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC), rigid polylactic acid (PLA), and polyhyrdoxyalkanoates (PHAs).