Green Chemistry & Product Design: Lessons Learned, Future Directions, & Opportunities for Coordination Joel A. Tickner, ScD Joel_tickner@uml.edu EPA Region 2, Pollution Prevention and Sustianability Roundtable June 19, 2017

What is Green Chemistry? Green chemistry is: The design of chemicals and manufacturing processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances A growing field of practice that builds on conventional chemistry by applying 12 fundamental principles that guide the design of sustainable chemical products and processes An approach that applies across the life cycle of a chemical, including its design, manufacture and use in a product

Anastas, P. T. and Warner, J. C Anastas, P.T. and Warner, J.C. Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice, Oxford University Press; New York, 1998.

How is green chemistry practiced? Practiced primarily by chemists at the chemical development and formulation level. But product developers, manufacturers, brands, and retailers all play a critical role in driving the demand and adoption of green chemistry. Can be an incremental improvement or it can yield a disruptive innovation. But increasingly, green chemistry is leading to novel chemicals or materials with new and/or improved performance attributes (not just drop-in replacements).

Market drivers for Green Chemistry

Policy Drivers

Science Drivers

Growth of Green Chemistry Efforts

What is the GC3? A cross-sectoral, full value chain business membership organization A convener of collaborations to advance green chemistry innovation & practice An advocate for government policy & funding that advances green chemistry R&D and innovation Mission: To make green chemistry standard practice – Mainstream - in industry, for innovation, public health, and environmental protection Started in 2005

Ove100 Members, Including:

GC3: Bridging the Supply Chain to Advance Green Chemistry Green chemistry ideas & technology options Green chemistry market requirements & desires Increasingly, Established companies & startups

Collaborations, Best Practices, Tools, Education & Research to Drive Green Chemistry Practices in Industry http://greenchemistryandcommerce.org/

Barriers and accelerators for green chemistry Growth Deterrents Green Definition Supply Chain Complexity Incumbency Confusion Switching Risk Price/Performance Supply & Demand Transparency New Technology Access/Placement adoption Collaboration Technology Forcing Compromise Enhanced Education Growth Drivers Government Regulation Consumer Awareness time

Collaborative Innovation at the GC3 Select projects based on needs of member companies Facilitate pre-competitive collaborations Focus on bringing many different stakeholders to the table from across the value chain Results made publicly available Support learning and networking Bring competitors together to work on the same project, instigate business-university partnerships, encourage collaboration between all member companies GC3 is a focal point for initiating collaborations – bring people together that wouldn’t normally interact Key defining feature is the presence of the entire value chain, from chemical manufacturers all the way to retailer and everything in between (formulators, brands, etc.) We also bring in voices from government agencies and NGOs Our projects are designed to facilitate engagement and interaction between members to address key practical barriers Enables members to dig in and do something meaningful that benefits their organization as well as others throughout the supply chain I will quickly go through some examples of these types of collaborations to give you an example of how we set them up

Retail Leadership Council – an Uncommon Collaboration Established in 2013 to promote safer chemicals, materials and products across retail supply chains Focus: Alternatives to chemical functions of concern Supply chain transparency Customer/Buyer/Supplier education Retailers interface between manufacturers and consumers; engaging them is crucial to success of green chemistry Proactively working on: Supply chain transparency Chemicals policies Customer education How can we apply markets forces to demonstrate demand and accelerate supply of green chemistry solutions

Joint Statement Goal setting and continuous improvement Communication Transparency Information on new chemicals and safer alternatives Green chemistry education Joint statement is the result of the Retailer and Chemical Manufacturer’s dialog 5 major focus areas that will drive action going forward http://greenchemistryandcommerce.org/projects/retail

Evaluation of Alternative Plasticizers for Wire and Cable Project Goals: Identify safer alternatives to toxic phthalate plasticizers Pool knowledge, funds, and data to get more robust results Create a model for future collaboration Idea was suggested during 2010 Roundtable, project was completed in 2013 Electronics companies want to move away from harmful plasticizers, but alternatives might be just as harmful – want to avoid “regrettable substitutions” the GC3 facilitated pre-competitive collaborations between companies Used chemical hazard assessment tool called GreenScreen, developed by Clean Production Action GreenScreen results were made public to inform companies’ chemical substitution decisions, as well as any other interested parties. Three of the assessed plasticizers are confidential formulations, and chemical ingredients were provided under NDA to ToxServices for assessment. Redacted reports are available for these.

Evaluation of Alternative Plasticizers for Wire and Cable Participants Manufacturers Dell EMC HP Plasticizer Suppliers BASF Dow Hallstar Retailer Staples Plastic Compounder Teknor Apex Toxicology Consultant ToxServices Univ., Gov., NGO Univ. of Mass. Lowell Washington State Clean Production Action Pacific NW PP Resource Ctr Bringing many different stakeholders to the table Brought in whole supply chain from chemical manufacturers, to formulators, to brands and retailers

Evaluation of Alternative Plasticizers for Wire & Cable Outcome of the project Project showed it was possible to design a fair and inclusive process that could bring together supply chain actors to collectively evaluate alternatives. While not everyone agreed with the outcomes, the process was felt to be fair. http://greenchemistryandcommerce.org/projects/business-and-academic-partnerships-for-safer-chemicals

GC3 Collaborative, Open Innovation Competition: Preservatives for Personal Care & Home Care Products Target Audience: Small companies, startups, universities, and individuals with promising ideas or technologies Judging: Formulators + other stakeholders, performance testing and safety screening Awards: Monetary + opportunities to partner with formulators and suppliers for evaluation, joint development, commercialization & scale In Partnership with: Use criteria document to spur research on safer preservatives Want to flush out new technologies and bring the right people together to commercialize them We are still in the process of finalizing the list of sponsor companies Will be launching the competition in the fall

Accelerating Innovation – Preservatives Need Statement & Development Criteria for New Preservatives for Personal Care & Household Products - Articulates the need for new preservatives - Provides a set of detailed development criteria for new preservatives, including: Performance Regulatory Human health Environment Business factors Needs statement is a key deliverable – available for free on our website The criteria presented in this document describe the attributes that a broad range of companies in the personal care and household products sectors are seeking in new preservatives. We have received feedback that companies are already using this document to guide internal R&D and Innovation http://greenchemistryandcommerce.org/projects/preservatives-project

SPONSORS/ PARTICIPANTS: GC3 Open Innovation Competition: Preservatives for Personal Care & Home Care Products CPG Companies Babyganics Beautycounter Beiersdorf Colgate-Palmolive J&J Method P&G RB (Reckitt Benckiser) SC Johnson Unilever/Seventh Generation Retailers Target Walmart Preservative Suppliers Dow Lonza Schuelke Thor SPONSORS/ PARTICIPANTS: Competing companies collaborating to improve market for all Other Organizations Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) State of Minnesota

GC3 Green & Bio-based Chemistry Startup Network Creating an innovation ecosystem for green and bio-based chemistry technologies Mission: Accelerate the development and market adoption of green chemistry technologies by supporting the growth of green and bio-based startup companies Goals Support green and bio-based chemistry start-up companies Introduce our “large” GC3 member companies to new chemical technologies, partnership and investment opportunities

Members of GC3 Startup Network 18 members and counting!

GC3 model of change Identify and address concrete barriers to adoption Establish and support champions to create market demand and supply Connect companies and value chains for partnerships to accelerate innovation and market adoption Create and replicate market-based models for collaborative innovation Leverage GC3 membership to engage the highest levels of business and government in advocating for green chemistry innovation

Lessons learned There is strong interest in value chain collaboration to accelerate green chemistry particularly for products Brands and retailers are beginning to pull green chemistry technologies Innovative new chemistries and materials are being developed and supported… There are still lots of barriers to overcome (similar across complex global supply chain) Incentives and support for supply chain collaboration are critical to innovation and scale of green chemistry solutions

Areas for engagement of P2 community Move from processes to include products – toxicity concerns still there Connect P2 projects focused on waste reduction to toxicity reduction Circular economy an important area to bring in green chemistry. Supporting evaluation (toxicity, performance, lifecycle) and adoption of green chemistry solutions – technical support Supporting R&D of new innovations and connections to marketplace Convening supply chains and small company innovators

For More Information: Joel_tickner@uml.edu www.greenchemistryandcommerce.org