California Green Chemistry Overview and Answers
What is green chemistry?
Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances. Green chemistry applies across the lifecycle, including the design, manufacture, and use of a chemical product.
1. Hot topic: why is California Green Chemistry so important?
California environmental law tends to lead the rest of the country. A good example is the non-smoking legislation that passed in California -- banning smoking in public restaurants/bars -- in the late-1990's. The legislation was adopted by the rest of the country in blindingly fast fashion.
Linda S. Adams, CA Secretary for Environmental Protection, introduced the California Green Chemistry Initiative this way:
"I am pleased to present the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (Cal/EPA) Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI) policy recommendations for strengthening the protection of public health and our environment and moving toward a sustainable California. The GCI proposal presents a new way to look at chemicals in our society, unleashing the creativity and innovation of our scientists and engineers to design and discover the next generation of chemicals." - December 2008
The California Green Chemistry Initiative report
The "final report" on the California Green Chemistry Initiative states that green chemistry presents a major paradigm shift that focuses on environmental protection at the design stage of product and manufacturing processes. It is an innovative way to deal with chemicals before they become hazards, with the goal of making chemicals and products “benign by design.” Green chemistry is a preemptive strategy that reduces the use of toxic substances before they contaminate the environment and our bodies. It is a marked departure from the past where society managed industrial and municipal wastes by disposal or incineration. Green chemistry seeks to dramatically reduce the toxicity of chemicals in the first place, rather than merely manage their toxic waste after use and disposal.
Green Chemistry Initiatives insist that manufacturers know what's in their products and their supply chains. It inspires companies to keep careful track of all that comes in, is made, and goes out.
The six recommendations developed through the California Green Chemistry Initiative constitute a far-reaching, market-driven strategy with an ambitious aim: a new chemicals framework and a quantum shift in environmental protection.
These landmark policy options will invigorate California’s environmental leadership and hope to foster a new era in the design of a new consumer products economy that focuses on inventing, manufacturing and using toxic-free, sustainable products. At Actio, we've been calling it eco-PLM. Or a conscientious Product Lifecycle Management.
The six recommendations of the CA Green Chemistry Initiative are:
1. Expand Pollution Prevention and product stewardship programs to more business sectors -- to refocus additional resources on prevention rather than clean up.
2. Develop Green Chemistry Workforce Education and Training, Research and Development and Technology Transfer through new and existing educational programs and partnerships.
3. Create an Online Product Ingredient Network to disclose chemical ingredients for products sold in California, while protecting trade secrets.
4. Create an Online Toxics Clearinghouse, an online database of chemical toxicity and hazards populated with the guidance of a Green Ribbon Science Panel to help prioritize chemicals of concern and data needs.
5. Accelerate the Quest for Safer Products, creating a systematic, science-based process to evaluate chemicals of concern and alternatives to ensure product safety and reduce or eliminate the need for chemical-by-chemical bans.
6. Move Toward a Cradle-to-Cradle Economy to leverage market forces to produce products that are “benign-by-design” in part by establishing a California Green Products Registry to develop green metrics and tools (e.g., environmental footprint calculators, sustainability indices) for a range of consumer products and encourage their use by businesses.
2. Background on California chemical initiatives
In 2008, California initiated the first of its kind, state-level chemical oversight program.
The legislation gives the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) the power to set up a framework for dealing with chemicals of concern. Problem chemicals are currently dealt with on a substance-by-substance basis, ending up in sometimes-contentious legislation. Critics of the system say that legislators don't have the ability to become experts on every chemical that can be harmful to humans and the environment, and that legislation is sometimes driven by emotions and lobbying rather than research.
Assembly Bill 1879 gives the Department of Toxic Substances Control until 2011 to set up a science-based process for identifying, evaluating and regulating chemicals, taking into account manufacturing, use and disposal. A panel of scientists will advise the department. The other bill, SB 509, sets up a state-run website to act as a clearinghouse of chemical information directed at consumers.
The bills come on the heels of the state's Green Chemistry Initiative, which has put forth numerous ideas on how to advance green chemistry. The Initiative has brought together a variety of stakeholders for discussions on how to inform consumers about chemicals, alter consumer protection laws, add green chemistry to education and expand similar efforts.
Are the Feds behind California? If so, how much?
The U.S. EPA is also looking to expand chemical oversight efforts, but at the federal level. The EPA is working on a program to encourage chemical companies to provide health and safety information on inorganic chemicals in high production volume.
Inorganic chemicals are any substances that do not have carbon atoms, and include a broad list with the likes of cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel. A high production value (HPV) chemical is a chemical manufactured or imported in quantities higher than 1,000,000 pounds a year.
The EPA already has gathered information on some 2,200 organic HPV chemicals. The voluntary program for inorganic HPV chemicals would include a two-three year period of gathering data, taking advantage of similar work by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Canada and the European Union's REACH efforts. The EPA would then begin a prioritization assessment of chemicals.
A good resource is the reference page for the Chemical Assessment and Management Program, ChAMP -- but note the page is no longer updated as the EPA has recently taken chemical assessment to new level, making it an EPA priority, that is, front-page news.
In addition, the EPA is taking a look at the Toxic Substances Control Act - including a comprehensive inventory of industrial chemicals that has more than 83,000 entries.
For more information, contact the chemical regulation watchdog personnel at Actio Corp, makers of software for materials data management, environmental regulatory compliance, and supply chain stewardship.
Note: The process of gathering information on materials - from the component to each item in the Bill of Materials (BOM) to the substance level - of all entities coming up through your supply chain can be automated.
3. Is SaaS software the future of green chemistry solutions?
What can SaaS do? SaaS stands for "Software as a Service," meaning that the customer just uses the product with a browser and internet connection, much like an internal intranet or like a secure online data center such as we have with income taxes. With a SaaS solution, the investment does not have to break the bank, and your data is just as secure if not more secure than it would be if housed at your plant. Is it as safe as typical data storage? The answer is Yes. How do you make sure?
You make sure by looking for a SaaS provider that has been around over five (5) years and also has SAS-70 certification. SAS-70 is a thorough, comprehensive third-party audit. The certification seal indicates that the service provider meets or exceeds rigorous industry testing and standards.
Look for the SAS-70 seal:
4. Ruminations from blogger Chris Jellen: SaaS is hot, but is it really cheaper?
The real costs of SaaS
SaaS is America's next top model, some say. Supermodel, even.
SaaS is where the business world is headed. SaaS is more cost effective, for starters. Cheaper and easier to turn on, and better value over time.
Jellen's post (linked above) quotes AMR Research blogger Bruce Richardson (who's quoting Giga Om): "Traditional legacy applications such as Oracle or SAP have a fully loaded cost of delivery of $1,000-$1,500 per user per month. Several years ago, Oracle On Demand [a SaaS solution] got that cost down to $50-$100, whether it was Oracle-hosted or customer-hosted. Salesforce.com [SaaS] has squeezed that cost down even more to $7-$10, though admittedly just for the much lighter-weight CRM portion of the suite."
Could SaaS really be that much cheaper? Check out the blog entry to get the complete shakedown.
5. Actio's Gatekeeper screens for green chemistry in the procurement phase - and there's more
Actio's progressive Gatekeeper software solution evaluates products in the design and procurement phase. It screens materials against all regulatory data. Gatekeeper also streamlines business operations with work-flow functionality for a lean approval process.
Please see the latest news release on Gatekeeper, Actio Gatekeeper reduces manufacturer material approval times by 75% while keeping it green.
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