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Industry Adjusts to Environmental Concerns Richard Sedlak The Soap and Detergent Association A Colloquium to Celebrate Fifty Years of Environmental Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute March 29, 2005
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SDA/Industry Program Assess environmental fate and effects 1950s: WWTPs 1970s: Hazard and exposure data sets 1980s: On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems 1980s: Sediments 1990s: Water reuse
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Surfactants & Biodegradability 1940s “Synthetic” detergents developed Surfactant / “Builder” system Surfactants - primarily branched alkylbenzene sulfonates
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Surfactants & Biodegradability 1956
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Industry Response Early 1960s Public reaction and legislative/regulatory pressures Biodegradable “linear” alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) brought into marketplace
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New Tools Developed Test methods developed to predict fate in wastewater treatment Removal Ultimate Biodegradability Modelling of removal Support pre-market investigations
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The Change to Looking Ahead Mid-1970s Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Created mechanisms for Federal review of substances Industry concern: High volume chemicals would be targeted While under review, public could be concerned with safety
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The Change to Looking Ahead Mid- to Late 1970s: Surfactant Safety Reviews Comprehensive summaries of public and in-house human and environmental hazard and exposure data Seven classes of surfactants: LAS, AS, AE, AES, APE, AOS & SAS Placed in public domain Gap analysis facilitated Updated through mid-1990s
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Late 1990s: Voluntary Initiatives High Production Volume Chemicals Programs Countries handling programs too slow Major voluntary shift of burden to industry Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) U.S. EPA Challenge Comprehensive compilations of public and in-house physical-chemical and hazard data 1000’s of substances
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Late 1990s: Voluntary Initiatives High Production Volume Chemicals Programs SDA manages 9 chemical families Extended commitment: Disclosure of exposure information Screening level risk assessments
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Sediments Surfactants attach to solids Higher concentrations in sediment than in water column EPA sediment quality criteria 1980s Multi-phase approach Modeling Laboratory Field
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On-site Wastewater Treatment Systems 1960s: Limited work on on-site wastewater treatment systems 1980s 25% of U.S. population Compatibility Treatability
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Water Reuse Reuse of greywater and wastewater could put pressure on ingredients Irrigation - salts Drinking water - closed loop systems 1990s Extent of residential greywater reuse Assess environmental impacts
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Monitoring/Biomonitoring Analytical tools allow very low level detection Environmental matrices: U.S. Geological Survey Human fluids and tissues: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Exposure information issued without risk context
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Information Flow Increasingly larger volumes of hazard and exposure data will be available to the public Capacity of public to understand will be challenged Capacity of industry & governments to place in context will be challenged
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Information Flow Internet: ingredient information NGOs Business Consumer-oriented databases National Library of Medicine Green Peace database
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Risk Communication Lack of ability to properly communicate risk will: Damage public confidence in institutions Belgium contamination of dairy products, BSE in England, pthalates in US Damage reputation of products/chemicals Misdirect resources
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Collaboration Suppliers (hazard data) and formulators (information relevant to exposure) need to cooperate No single company will be able to do an acceptable chemical risk assessment Disparate industries will have to cooperate to do risk assessments, particularly for the environment
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Collaboration Role for third parties Bring stakeholders together (industry, chemical users, governments, researchers, etc.) Pool limited resources
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Extended Producer Responsibility Industry will increasingly be asked/mandated to foot the bill for managing all stages of a product’s life cycle (e.g., waste disposal)
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Expansion of Chemical Management Systems Canadian Environmental Protection Act Categorization of Domestic Substances List: 23,000 substances European Union’s REACH Development of Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals systems 65,000 chemicals in commerce
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Modeling Models needed to fill knowledge gaps (Quantitative) Structure Activity Relationships Exposure models Chronic low level exposures
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Non-regulatory Approaches Increased focus on non-regulatory approaches to chemical management Industry: Product stewardship programs HPV-like chemical programs Increased focus on products and ingredients to drive upstream changes NGO campaigns Increased protection of sensitive populations e.g., children, elderly, immunocompromised, asthmatic, in-home healthcare
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Future Nanotechnology Modifications to wastewater treatment processes to remove residual chemicals
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Summary Detergent industry moved from reactive to proactive mode by mid-1970s Continual stewardship required Dedication of expert resources
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