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

2. 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

3. 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.

4. 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).

5. Market drivers for Green Chemistry

6. Policy Drivers

7. Science Drivers

8. Growth of Green Chemistry Efforts

9. 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

10. Ove100 Members, Including:

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

12. Collaborations, Best Practices, Tools, Education & Research to Drive Green Chemistry Practices in Industry

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. Members of GC3 Startup Network
18 members and counting!

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. For More Information: Joel_tickner@uml.edu