An attribute-based ingredient information platform for green formulation Alec Gosse GreenBlue ACS Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference Washington, DC 25 June 2008 Many thanks to our Sponsors sponsored by

GreenBlue Institute (GreenBlue) Mission GreenBlue is a nonprofit institute that stimulates the creative redesign of industry by focusing the expertise of professional communities to create practical solutions, resources, and opportunities for implementing sustainability. Programs CleanGredients® www.cleangredients.org Sustainable Packaging Coalition℠ www.sustainablepackaging.org Green2Green℠ www.green2green.org GreenBlue sees it’s role as a facilitator to bridge the science of environmentally preferable design with application in the real world. Green2Green is a web enabled database that allows simple multi-attribute comparisons of green building products The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is a membership-based group that allows companies in the packaging sector who are committed to reaching the ideals set out in the SPC definition of sustainable packaging to share best practices and work together

What is CleanGredients®? An on-line database of industrial and institutional (I&I) cleaning product ingredients designed to: help formulators identify ingredients that may be useful for green product formulation and help raw material suppliers market their ingredients with especially positive human and environmental health and safety (HEHS) attributes. Currently 16 supplier companies and 260 formulator subscribers Help formulators identify ingredients that may be useful for green product formulation Provide a platform for raw material suppliers to showcase their ingredients with especially positive environmental and human health and safety attributes Align environmental, human health, and business goals Support voluntary and regulatory compliance initiatives Make chemical ingredient information broadly available Support the movement of green chemistry into commerce Leverage the U.S. EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) Formulator Program.

Drivers SUPPLY CHAIN Chemical Manufacturers Product Formulators Purchasers & End Users make ingredients for use in products. select ingredients for use in products. purchase or use formulated products. (ex: DuPont) (ex: Ecover) (ex: Wal-Mart) DRIVERS Green Chemistry Green Formulation Green Purchasing CleanGredients is targeted at the formulation step of product development. It is not a tool for doing “green chemistry” as such, but is itself a driver of the development of environmentally benign chemical ingredients Helps connect innovative chemistry with purchasing decisions Issues of Toxicity have dominated the conversation around green formulation to date. The recent and intense focus on energy and efficiency will likely push other environmental attributes to the forefront as well.

Rationale for Approach – Not a Simple List! Not a ranking system Focus on hazard-based information and information relevant to environmental purchasing, eco-labeling, and sustainability—and needed for risk assessment For example, biodegradation criteria consistent with eco-label certification criteria Includes DfE Screen in order to facilitate DfE-formulator partnerships and DfE recognition for products and to identify preferred environmental attributes. Risk = Hazard * exposure Since the exposure to humans, and particularly the environment is very difficult to predict, certainly in the event of an accident, the precautionary principle tells us to use materials and processes that are inherently benign CleanGredients was initially envisioned as a list to answer the question of what chemicals should be used in an environmentally friendly formulation? Because hazard relates to multiple endpoints that vary in importance according to application, CleanGredients provides a range of relevant data rather than a simple “green list”. Such a list would not allow for continuous improvement, and would need to be specific to the intended application to be of use. Also no comparative score between ingredients is provided in order that the site focus on the data EPA’s Design for the Environment partnership program (DfE) is a framework for evaluating formulated products and offers a DfE screen, which is a pass/fail measure of the environmental qualities of an ingredient or an entire formulation. In general, the target user base for the site are professionals who make these determinations.

Goals for CleanGredients® Provide a source of relevant environmental fate and toxicity information on potential cleaning product ingredients Provide a resource for formulators to select ingredients that will improve the environmental fate and safety of their products Provide a resource for ingredient producers to communicate the environmental fate and safety of ingredients in a standardized format for current and future ingredients Incorporate consideration of HEHS hazard data into the process of cleaning product formulation Promote an ethic of continuous improvement Leverage DfE Formulator Program services and streamline DfE-formulator partnerships by making already-reviewed ingredient information available Drive principles of green chemistry into commerce

CleanGredients® Project Participants GreenBlue Institute (GreenBlue) U.S. EPA DfE Formulator Program NSF International Cleaning Product Formulators Chemical Manufacturers and Suppliers Industry Associations Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Developed with a broad group of stakeholders

CleanGredients® Project Structure Steering Committee Advisory role for the project as a whole Membership on the Steering Committee is limited Includes participants from three industry associations, two formulator companies, two supplier companies, U.S. EPA DfE, and two NGOs Technical Advisory Committees Guide the selection of attributes and criteria for each ingredient class Help guide development of the overall web interface Project Associates (more than 800) Source of expertise and input Serve as peer review community Pool from which to draw committee members Receive Project Updates (email list) Help beta-test new ingredient modules as they come on-line CleanGredients is built on extensive stakeholder engagement, and continues to be refined based on continuing feedback

CleanGredients® Solvents TAC Participants Include Not necessarily complete Look at process and organizational model under the about section of the website

Types of Ingredient Information in CleanGredients® General Information Sales Information Physical-Chemical Attributes Regulatory Attributes Human Health and Safety Attributes Ecotoxicity Attributes Environmental Fate Attributes

Tier Structure for Ingredient Information Tier 1 Attributes Require the submission of test data for third-party review Key attributes for determining whether or not an ingredient will support environmentally preferable product formulation Tier 2 Attributes Required if known Important for characterizing ingredients for environmentally preferable product formulation but do not require third-party review Tier 3 Attributes Optional Information that supports broader environmental perspectives, such as origin of feedstock, life cycle assessments, risk assessments, etc. Tier 4 Attributes Considered but not included (for a given chemical class) One of the most important functions that the TAC for a particular category of ingredients performs is to place selected attributes into tiers this minimizes the costs associated with the system by only verifying the most important data

Suppliers submit ingredient formulation and data to a third-party certifier for evaluation against CleanGredients listing criteria and the DfE Screen ( ) Only attributes in the listing criteria, and other Tier 1 attributes are submitted for review

Third-party reviewer enters Tier 1 data into CleanGredients and indicates whether each ingredient passes the DfE Screen The ingredient supplier is not able to enter or edit Tier 1 data at any stage in the process The supplier does enter data from lesser Tiers

Formulators search CleanGredients and select ingredients for use in products

For formulators who seek U.S. EPA DfE recognition...

DfE provides a “screen” to identify preferred ingredients DfE provides a “screen” to identify preferred ingredients. Ingredients that pass the DfE Screen reach a very high bar.

Formulators use the DfE screen to select ingredients for products

Formulators submit information about products for review by DfE Formulators submit information about products for review by DfE. Costs are lowered using pre-reviewed ingredients.

EPA recognizes products that meet DfE criteria based on product ingredient review This process could indicate how certification by any number of other eco-labels might work, such as Eco-Logo or GreenSeal

Search by Performance/Physical Properties This is a search in our recently opened solvents module. The DfE screen for this category is in final review we have entered an example product until the DfE screen is complete and real solvents are listed. Clicking on the ingredient name takes you to the detailed information page for that ingredient.

Detailed Ingredient View Attributes within the system are placed in a Tier according to their importance and in a Functional category, one of Human Health, Physical Chemical, Environmental, and Regulatory The detail view allows browsing by both groupings of attributes

CleanGredients® makes Green Formulation more efficient R&D Reduce time spent searching for available alternatives Reduce time spent researching human and environmental health toxicological and safety data Key ingredient attribute information in CleanGredients® has been verified and is publicly available No need for additional testing No need for additional verification Product Recognition Avoid retesting, verifying, or soliciting information from suppliers for the product recognition or certification process Chemicals/ingredients already reviewed and listed in CleanGredients® do not incur a review fee for DfE Partnership recognition. Much of our work seeks to avoid the duplication of efforts so that resources for environmental improvement can be used most efficiently

An Expandable System

In the future… Expand modules for cleaning products: Apply to household cleaning products Additional ingredient categories Solvents Chelating agents (in development) Fragrances (in development) Six total modules by March 2009 Other product types: Packaging materials (inks, coatings, pigments) Building materials (flooring, insulation) Other aspects of Green Chemistry: Energy Atom Economy

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