1. 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

2. 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®
Sustainable Packaging Coalition℠
Green2Green℠
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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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 ( 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

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Formulators search CleanGredients and select ingredients for use in products

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

16. 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.

17. Formulators use the DfE screen to select ingredients for products

18. 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.

19. 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

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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

23. An Expandable System

24. 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

25. sponsored by