EPA and NSF Offer Grants for Green Chemistry, Life Cycle Research

The USEPA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on December 20, 2012 that they would offer grants for up to ten different research projects - totaling $32 million. The grants will be divided between two areas of research.

For Networks for Characterizing Chemical Life Cycle research, interested parties can get more information here.

For Networks for Sustainable Molecular Design and Syntheses, interested parties can get more information here.

Requests for applications for the grants are due by March 18, 2013.

It's January 1st, where is California's Green Chemistry Law?

Not in California.  At least not yet.  The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) has missed the January 1, 2011 deadline for issuing its final Safer Chemical Product Alternatives (SCPA) regulations - aka, the green chemistry regs.  The regulations remained unfinalized in part because of severe criticism that the draft regulations didn't go far enough.  Even the primary legislative sponsor of the green chemistry bill, Assemblyman Mike Fleuer, felt the rules were not strict enough.  Many critics felt the proposed rules had been watered down so much that they would actually reverse progress that had already been made to control chemicals.

The plan is to revisit SCPA this month (or so) and try to beef them up.  One major concern is that the proposed regulations would make it easier for manufacturers to replace chemicals that were identified as harmful with other chemicals in which no determination of safety had even been made at all.  Hardly the best option, as the world is full of examples of unintended consequences when eliminating one hazard without adequate assessment of the substitutes.

So it is back to the drawing board with an eraser and a thicker pencil.  The goal seems to be to "get it right" instead of just get it done by the deadline.  The delay also shifts the burden to the incoming Democratic Governorship of Jerry Brown, though outgoing Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had also supported the green chemistry initiative.

Whatever form the final SCPA regulations take could have far-reaching ramifications.  As has happened in the past, as California goes, so often go other states and/or federal level regulations.  While certainly not a universal truth, the state does tend to be a trendsetter in this regard, in large part because the size of its economy requires companies that want access to its market must comply or lose out.  And companies much prefer to have one set of rules to live by, not 50 individual sets of (often conflicting) rules.

Happy New Year!

American Cleaning Institute Finds Fault with California "Safer Products" Regulations

The American Cleaning Institute (ACI; formerly the Soap and Detergent Association) has filed comments to the California Department of Toxic Substances stating that the new regulations are "bureaucratic, punitive, and adversarial."  In their press release, ACI states:

California’s proposed regulations for “safer consumer product alternatives” are bureaucratic in the extreme, resource intensive for California government and the regulated community, punitive and adversarial, according to the American Cleaning Institute. 

ACI's detailed comments (93 pages, including attachments) urge the California DTSC to work with stakeholders to address proposals in need of "significant revision" as the current proposal would not accomplish "the goals
of the state’s Green Chemistry Initiative."  ACI complained about many parts of the proposed regulations, including their overly broad scope, a "flawed" chemical prioritization process, onerous reporting requirements, and what they see as "disincentives" to the development of safer consumer productes.

The full ACI comments can be read here.

California OEHHA to Hold Public Workshop on Green Chemistry

As I noted last week, California EPA's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) issued a "pre-regulatory draft" of a hazards traits document. Now they have announced that next week, Monday, August 23, 2010, OEHHA will hold a workshop to discuss the draft, which is called "Green Chemistry Hazard Traits, Endpoints, and Other Relevant Data."

According to OEHHA, the draft document:

"identifies and defines the hazard traits; lists general categories of endpoints and other relevant data for each toxicological and environmental hazard trait; provides general methods for determining whether or not a chemical has a toxicological hazard trait; and provides specific methods for determining whether or not a chemical has carcinogenicity, developmental toxicity or reproductive toxicity hazard traits." 

The workshop will take place at the California EPA headquarters in Sacramento.  For more information on the workshop, timing and directions go to the OEHHA page.

California Dept Toxic Substances Control Announces Green Chemistry Initiative Symposium

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control announces that it will hold a symposium to "explore the alternative analysis process of chemicals in consumer products through case studies from experts actively engaged in various segments of the marketplace."

The event, called "Alternative Analysis Symposium II - Case Studies from the Field," will be held in Sacramento and be webcast live on July 28, 2010.

Presenters include:

George Thompson, Ph.D., Chemical Compliance Systems

Thomas Carter, The Wercs

Margaret Whittaker, Ph.D., Toxservices

Teresa McGrath, NSF International

Pam Palitz, Environment California

Helen Holder, Hewlett-Packard Company

Michael Schmeida, Tremco Inc.

Dennis McGavis, Shaw Industries

More information and an agenda will be available at the event web site.

Green chemistry gains another proponent in California

Green chemistry has been a hot topic in the last few years, with California, the EPA, the EU, and others pushing to encourage safer, more health and environmentally friendly, and sustainable chemicals. Toward this end, last week saw the formal opening of the Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII) in San Francisco, a non-profit organization founded to promote the cradle-to-cradle (C2C) concept.

The idea of C2C was first developed by architect William McDonough and chemist Michael Braungart. The process looks at the entire life cycle of a product, from its initial extraction from virgin ore to its disposal, or actually, to its reuse or recycling. From their web site, www.gpinnovation.org:

The Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII) is a non-profit organization created to bring about a large scale transformation in the way we make the things we make.

Rather than focusing on how industry can become "less bad," the GPII is set up to be a resource for those who aspire to do "more good". We promote an innovation-oriented model for eliminating toxic chemicals and other negative environmental impacts. The GPII prescribes a set of design principles, based on the laws of nature, to help businesses create products that are safe for people and the environment. This rethinking of how we design, manufacture, use and reuse materials will spur a new era of innovation, simultaneously driving economic, ecological and social prosperity.

GPII plans to work with academia, NGOs, government, and industry to establish a product rating system. Products meeting the criteria will receive a C2C certification mark.

While the founders hope to expand internationally, locating the headquarters in California is no accident as the state has been working to implement a green chemistry philosophy. Indeed, Governor Schwarzenegger attended the opening and reiterated GPII's mantra that the "time is now for us to go beyond simply being 'less bad' and to lead the world in the invention and innovation of 'more good,' which he sees as a way to a "prosperous Cradle-to-Cradle economy."

Initially, funding of GPII is from private donations from organizations and individuals, but once established they expect to be funded through training and product registration fees.