Source: Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, September 2009
Author: Monica Becker
Full report available at http://www.greenchemistryandcommerce.org/downloads/summaryreport_000.pdf

Consumer product companies need chemical information from their supply chains for many reasons, including the design of products that are safe for human health and the environment, regulatory compliance, participation in green certification programs, disclosure of chemical ingredients in products to retailers and customers, and preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Companies with large, complex, global supply chains face many challenges in getting this information.

The Green Chemistry in Commerce Council (GC3), a project of the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, commissioned three case studies of leading firms with complex supply chains to explore and share experiences on how companies gather chemical information from their supply chains and how they use this information to develop safer products. The three companies are Nike, S.C. Johnson (SCJ) and Hewlett-Packard (HP). The case studies conducted for this project examined a number of questions:

1. Why is the company seeking chemical information from their supply chain?
2. What types of chemical information is the company seeking?
3. How is the company gathering chemical information from its supply chain? What system is it using?
4. What systems are companies using to manage chemicals in products?
5. What systems are companies using to create safer products using chemical information?
6. What challenges have existed and what has worked well to gather chemical information, manage chemicals and design safer products?

All three firms studied are sizable, consumer product companies with large and complex supply chains. They are diverse with regard to the types of products that they manufacture and the types of raw materials that they procure from their supply chain. The reader should keep this in mind when reading the cases and lessons reported in this document.

Information gathered for the cases came from interviews with personnel at each firm, internal documents provided by the firms, and publicly available information. The companies were given the opportunity to review and comment on case study drafts. This summary report is designed to synthesize the lessons learned and best practices that were distilled from the case studies.

Read the full story at Kingston This Week.

A new commercialization model that transforms Green Chemistry discoveries into real-world products and industrial technologies for reducing harm to the environment, has received a major vote of confidence from the Ontario government.

MPP John Gerretsen, Minister of the Environment, on behalf of John Molloy, Minister of Research and Innovation, recently announced at Queen’s University the awarding of $13.6 million in support of Green Centre Canada.

Green Chemistry and alternative technologies aim to reduce or eliminate the use of compounds that are harmful to the environment.

ERDC/CERL TR-09-9
Environmentally Friendly Cleaners for Removing Tar from Metal Surfaces by Joyce C. Baird, Veera M. Boddu, Pam Khabra, and Wayne Ziegler
Online at http://libweb.wes.army.mil/uhtbin/hyperion/CERL-TR-09-9.pdf

Abstract:
As part of the mission, the Sustainable Painting Operations for the Total Army (SPOTA) working group evaluated solvents that will not impact the environment while cleaning the armament equipment, in particular the ground vehicles. ERDC-CERL researchers, in support of the SPOTA program, were tasked to conduct a preliminary study and develop a methodology to evaluate environmentally friendly cleaners that would be effective in cleaning road tar on military vehicles. The study involved an extensive literature review of commercial environmentally friendly tar removers: both products and methodologies. About 26 commercial tar removal products were identified as possible solvents for removing the tar stains from ground vehicles. In addition, laboratory coupon evaluations were conducted using three select commercial products. This report presents the results of the search for commercial tar removal solvent systems, and a laboratory evaluation of select solvent systems for removing tar from steel coupons.

Read the full story at GreenerComputing.

An announcement from the University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence offers a highly innovative potential use for e-waste, one that also brings a cradle-to-cradle mindset to disposing of technology.

Researchers at the university’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence have found a way to recover a chemical that’s widely used in LCD displays and put it to use in medicine.

Via e-mail from the National Council for Science and the Environment.

Paul Anastas, the Director of Yale University’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment, has been selected by President Obama as EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Research and Development. He will lead EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), which is the scientific research arm of EPA.

Trained as a synthetic organic chemist, Dr. Anastas is credited with establishing the field of “green chemistry” — a term he coined inn 1991 — during his time working for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he was the chief of the Industrial Chemistry Branch in EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances and director of the U.S. Green Chemistry Program. From 1999 to 2004, during the Clinton administration, he was the assistant director for the environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He then served as the founding director of the Green Chemistry Institute, headquartered at the American Chemical Society. While there, he established 24 green chemistry chapters in countries around the world, including China, Ethiopia, India, Japan and South Africa.

Green chemistry is the study of how to design chemical products and processes in ways that are sustainable and not harmful for humans and the environment. Dr. Anastas spoke about green chemistry at NCSE’s 2007 national conference: Integrating Environment and Human Health.

Dr. Anastas told NCSE that if confirmed, he would “always fight for scientists”. NCSE congratulates Dr. Anastas on his nomination and looks forward to working with him when he is confirmed as Assistant Administrator.

EPA’s Office of Research & Development (ORD) is organized into three national laboratories, four national centers, and two offices located in 14 facilities around the country and in Washington, D.C. These labs, centers, and offices provide information and technical support to EPA program offices, regions, state/municipal/tribal governments, and other agencies performing environmental research, assessment, and risk management. ORD scientists also collaborate with private-sector partners to address important environmental issues. The National Center for Environmental Research supports EPA’s Science To Achieve Results (STAR) research and fellowship program.

Via ResourceShelf.

LC’s Lab Renovation: Increasing Energy Efficiency and Reducing Environmental Impact

From the Report:

In the past few years, chemistry and materials science have begun to emphasize active pro-environmental practice—laboratory design, research policies, and use of instruments, equipment, and procedures designed to protect the environment from avoidable harm.  Tenets of this approach, informally called “green chemistry” in “green labs,” include energy-efficient design, increased instrument sensitivity, micro-scale sampling, and minimized solvent use to reduce environmental exposure and chemical wastes.  In addition to environmental benefits, rewards include safety, efficiency, reduced costs, and smaller space requirements.  While “green” chemistry and labs have no absolute requirements, guidelines for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification have been developed.

The Library of Congress Preservation Research and Testing Division has recently upgraded its 25 year old laboratories. This initiative has allowed the Library to strengthen its scientific research effort in a number of important ways.

Source: Library of Congress

Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

Is that laundry soap truly “environmentally friendly”? Was that mattress treated with toxic chemicals? Is that sweatsuit fashioned from organic cotton? Is that lipstick “natural”?

California officials launched a sweeping green initiative on Tuesday to inform consumers exactly how hundreds of thousands of products sold in the state are manufactured and transported and how safe their ingredients are.

EPA is now accepting nominations for the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. These awards recognize innovative chemical technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use — and that have broad applications in industry.

Nominated technologies should reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances from a chemical product or process. Any individual, group or organization, both nonprofit and for-profit, including academia and industry, may nominate a green chemistry technology for these awards. Self-nominations are welcome and expected. Each nominated technology must have reached a significant milestone within the past five years in the United States. Typically, awards are given each year in five categories: Greener Synthetic Pathways; Greener Reaction Conditions; Designing Greener Chemicals; Small Business; and Academic.

Nominations must be sent no later than Dec. 31 to be eligible for the 2009 awards, which will be presented on June 22, 2009. For more information on the nomination and awards process see: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/howto.html. You can link directly to the 2009 nomination package at: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/docs/nomination_package_for_2009_awards.pdf. For examples of last year’s nominations and award winners, see: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html.

If you have questions about the nomination process or awards, please write to EPA at: greenchemistry@epa.gov.

To subscribe to the Green Chemistry list serve and to receive the periodic Green Chemistry Newsletter with reminders and updates, send an email to lyris@lists.epa.gov with the subject line “subscribe green_chemistry FirstName LastName.” Substitute your first and last name into the subject line. You will receive a confirmation email.

For more information:
http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/docs/nomination_package_for_2009_awards.pdf

Read the full story in The Guardian.

A chemical found in mushrooms could one day replace the expensive and polluting heavy metals at the heart of fuel cells and conventional batteries, say chemists at Oxford University, boosting the development of clean power.

The Los Angeles Times just published a special report on green chemistry. Highlights include:

• Products derived from natural, nontoxic ingredients — once seen as fringe — are now mainstream
• Most industries remain dependent on hazardous substances
• L.A. firm is freed from a chemical fix
• Potential environmental risks aren’t part of chemical engineers’ training
• Not-so-dirty dozen: 12 principles of green chemistry
• Top 10 chemicals produced in the U.S.
• The green chemistry award goes to …

Read the full story in Environmental Science and Technology.

Researchers are finding alternatives to conventional plasticizers that may alleviate health concerns.

Read the press release.

Cummins Filtration (NYSE:CMI), the leader in filtration, exhaust, coolant and fuel additive technology for all engine-powered systems, announces the release of Fleetguard ES Compleat Glycerin, an innovative heavy duty engine antifreeze/coolant using non-toxic glycerin in lieu of traditional ethylene glycol (EG) or propylene glycol (PG).

Read the full story at News.com.

Researchers are working to reduce the pollution left by the shooting stars and bursting bombs that spangle skies in fireworks displays.

Efforts by Walt Disney and the military are driving the changes, according to a report by Bethany Halford in Chemical and Engineering News.

Read the press release.

Rowan chemical engineering students may help make a drug that eases the pain of arthritis sufferers gentler on the environment.

Read the full story in Chemical & Engineering News.

To read all the marketing hype, it would seem that the personal care products industry is rushing to label as natural, organic, or sustainable just about every new product coming onto the market.

In part, that is because toiletries and cosmetics carrying a “sustainable” or “natural” moniker are flying off the shelves, according to Gillian S. Morris, chemicals and materials director of consulting firm Kline & Co. Worldwide, manufacturers’ sales of natural products are growing at an average annual rate of 15%, three times faster than the overall market, she says.

However, just what manufacturers mean when they tout their products as natural, organic, or sustainable is anything but clear, Morris notes. And that has opened up an opportunity for industry groups and certification bodies to offer various seals of approval that ingredient makers and formulators can use to authenticate their claims.

Date: May 8, 2008.

Part of the 2008 Safety WebExpo and Conference. Register here.

The field of green chemistry focuses on the design, manufacture and use of chemicals, products and processes to reduce or eliminate adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Advancements in the field will support businesses and industries, as well as communities, workers and public agencies in their efforts to minimize the use of toxic chemicals in industrial processes and products. Advancements in green chemistry practices can also open new opportunities for green collar jobs, while at the same time ensuring that these new jobs are also safer jobs.

In addition to presenting the findings of our recent report to California EPA, Green Chemistry: Cornerstone to a Sustainable California (http://coeh.berkeley.edu/greenchemistry/briefing), we will address the following topics:

• Long-standing weaknesses in federal policy that have produced a flawed chemicals market in the U.S. and the consequences of these failed policies for the public, workers and the environment
• New European Union policies and efforts that are opening new possibilities for a new approach to chemicals policy in the U.S..
• Implications of green chemistry for occupational and environmental health

Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

In an effort to reduce industry’s reliance on toxic compounds, state environmental officials today will lay out a framework for transforming California into a leader in the development and use of “green” chemicals.

The proposals are an attempt to change the approach to environmental health from a chemical-by-chemical squabble to a wholesale shift in the way industry manufactures compounds used in products as varied as prescription drugs, plastic food packaging, pesticides, cosmetics and household cleaners.

Read the full story in Nature.

Modern life depends on the petrochemical industry — most drugs, paints and plastics derive from oil. But current processes for making chemical products are not sustainable in terms of resources and environmental impact. Green chemistry aims to tackle this problem, and real progress is being made.

EPA is now accepting nominations for the 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards. These awards recognize innovative chemical technologies that incorporate green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use — and that have broad applications in industry.

Nominated technologies should reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances from a chemical product or process. Any individual, group or organization, both nonprofit and for-profit, including academia and industry, may nominate a green chemistry technology for these awards. Self-nominations are welcome and expected.

Typically, five awards are given each year: one to an academic researcher, one to a small business, and the others to larger companies for specific areas of green chemistry. Each nominated technology must have reached a significant milestone within the past five years in the United States. For examples of last year’s nominations and award winners: http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html

Nominations must be sent no later than Dec. 31, to be eligible for the 2008 awards, which will be presented at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on June 24, 2008. For more information: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/howto.html

Read the full story in Environmental Protection.

On Sept. 5, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 2850, the Green Chemistry Research and Development Act. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), strengthens federal efforts to find safer alternatives to today’s chemical products.

The American Chemical Society has established a new Award for Affordable Green Chemistry. Supported by an endowment from the Rohm and Haas Company, it recognizes outstanding scientific discoveries that lay the foundation for environmentally friendly products or manufacturing processes at a cost comparable to or less than current technologies. The award also recognizes discovery of new eco-friendly chemistries with the potential to yield products or manufacturing processes that are less expensive than existing alternatives.

Green chemistry products and processes reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. With its Green Chemistry Institute (www.greenchemistryinstitute.org), ACS plays a leading role in advancing the implementation of green chemistry and engineering in all aspects of the global chemical enterprise. Most recently, ACS supported legislation introduced in Congress aimed at improving federal coordination, dissemination and investment in green chemistry research (HR 2850). Each year, the ACS also provides experts who judge nominations for the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards issued by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Award for Affordable Green Chemistry will be among the more than 60 other national awards the ACS presents annually to members of industry, academia and government, and the first recipient will be recognized at the Society’s 2009 spring national meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. The award consists of $5,000, a certificate and a plaque. Nominations are now open with an application deadline of Nov. 1, 2007. For additional details and nomination criteria, and to apply for the award, visit ACS Award for Affordable Green Chemistry.

The first presentation of the award in 2009 will coincide with the celebration of Rohm and Haas Company’s 100th anniversary. The company has been committed to green chemistry and eco-friendly technologies since it launched a revolutionary discovery in 1953 –– the first water-based acrylic emulsion for house paint. Rohm and Haas was among the first recipients of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards in 1996.

The American Chemical Society — the world’s largest scientific society — is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Read the full story in Chemical & Engineering News.

When it comes to green chemistry, big numbers are a big deal. Consider 145 million lb of hazardous chemicals and solvents eliminated from industrial use each year. That’s enough material to fill almost 700 railroad tank cars, which would make up a train nearly 9 miles long. Or how about 55 million gal of water saved each year, which adds up to the amount of water used by 2,100 people. Then there’s 57 million lb of carbon dioxide no longer released to the atmosphere each year, the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road. These numbers represent the savings of the 57 groundbreaking technologies that have received Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards since the program’s inception in 1995.

For the 12th straight year, EPA is recognizing leading researchers and industrial innovators for their efforts to reduce or eliminate waste through their manufacturing processes. The awards will be given out this evening, June 26, at the 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards winners are: Professor Michael Krische of the University of Texas at Austin; NovaSterilis Inc. of Lansing, N.Y.; a partnership between Professor Kaichang Li of Oregon State University, Columbia Forest Products of Portland, Ore., and Hercules Inc. of Wilmington, Del.; Headwaters Technology Innovation of Lawrenceville, N.J.; and Cargill Inc. of Wayzata, Minn.

EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge promotes research to develop less-toxic alternatives to existing technologies, and to reduce or eliminate waste generation in industrial production. An independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society selected the winners from the nearly 100 nominations for this recognition. The awards were given in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions and Designing Greener Chemicals. Over the past 12 years, the winners’ work has led to the elimination of over 940 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, over 600 million gallons of water, and over 340 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge 2007 Awards: epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/past.html

Read the full post at Green Car Congress.

Chemists at the University of Buffalo (UB) have identified what they say is a central mechanism responsible for the action of enzymes.

The research, reported in a paper selected as a “2007 Hot Article” by the journal Biochemistry, provides insight into why catalysis is so complex and may help pave the way for improving the design of synthetic catalysts.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.com.

The Toxics Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has unveiled a new surface cleaning online database to help manufacturers find safer cleaning alternatives that perform as well as hazardous chemicals. Search the database.

Read the full article in Environmental Protection magazine.

Biorefineries developed to produce ethanol from cellulose sources such as trees and fast-growing plants could get a tasty economic boost from the sale of “high-value” chemicals — such as vanillin flavoring — that could be generated from the same feedstock. Revenue from these “side stream” chemicals could help make ethanol produced by biorefineries cost competitive with traditional fossil fuels, researchers announced on Sept. 10.

At the 232nd national meeting of the American Chemical Society, a researcher from the Georgia Institute of Technology described green chemical processes that could produce chemicals worth up to $25 per pound from the same feedstock used to produce ethanol.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.com.

The European Union this week unveiled a proposed “action plan” that would boost sustainable chemistry, industrial biotechnology and chemical engineering research, development, and innovation in Europe.

Read the full story at GreenBiz.com.

Queen’s University researchers have devised a “green chemistry” solution to one of the oil industry’s biggest problems – in a cost-effective way.

Read the full article at GreenBiz.com.

Initially motivated by regulations and PR concerns, more companies are now turning to “green” chemistry. A new market study seeks to quantify this development in the chemicals industry.

The August 17th edition of Rachel’s Democracy & Health News reprints the testimony of Michael P. Wilson before the U.S. Senate Committee on Senate Environment and Public Works. The article originally appeared in the August 2 issue of Congressional Quarterly. The focus of his testimony is on the report Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation.

Read the full story at Physorg.com.

It almost sounds too good to be true – turning cow pats into plastic. But the unlikely-looking liquid in the flask Dr Steven Pratt holds is the key ingredient to an environmentally friendlier drink bottle.

Read the full article in Science Magazine.

The chemical industry is facing some tough challenges in Europe. European legislation is about to tighten the way chemicals are regulated and make chemical companies responsible for proving the environmental safety of the chemicals they produce. Even before legislation provided a specific impetus for cleaning up their act, chemistry companies and researchers were becoming aware of the need to replace common products, production methods, and feedstocks with substitutes that have less impact on the environment. Sustainable products and processes are being developed that should eventually replace the old ones. An army of “green chemists” is coming on stream that aims to continue the trend. “We need green chemists in at the start, designing processes from first principles,” says Jeff Hardy of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Chemistry.

Read the full story at Biopact.

Things are speeding up. Yesterday’s announcement that researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed an efficient process to make a chemical intermediate called HMF (hydroxymethylfurfural) from fructose from biomass, is entirely in the line of the integrated vision on biofuels and biomaterials, which we and our friends report about.

These petroleum-free polymers show that it is becoming increasingly likely that almost all products from the petro-chemical industry, will find a green counterpart based on sugars and oleogeanous biomass.

For more information, including links to articles by the researchers, see New Process for the Efficient Production of a Chemical Intermediate (HMF) from Sugar; Building Blocks for Plastics and Fuels at Green Car Congress.

(Washington–June 28, 2006) Leading researchers and industrial innovators were recognized this week for significant contributions in advancing pollution prevention at the 2006 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The presidential-rank awards are given to select individuals and organizations that have made innovative science contributions with identifiable applications that result in less pollution, waste or both in a manufacturing process.

Over the past 11 years, the winners’ work has led to the elimination of 750 million pounds of hazardous chemicals and solvents, saved more than 550 million gallons of water, and prevented more than 280 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

The recipients of this year’s awards were Galen Suppes, a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia; Arkon Consultants of Irving, Texas; NuPro Technologies of Winston Salem, N.C.; Merck & Company of Whitehouse Station, N.J.; Codexis, Inc. of Redwood City, Calif.; and S. C. Johnson, & Son, Inc. of Racine, Wisc.

EPA’s Green Chemistry Challenge promotes research to develop less-toxic alternatives to existing technologies, and to reduce or eliminate waste generation in industrial production. More than 90 nominations were reviewed by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society, which selected the five winners.

The awards were given in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions and Designing Greener Chemicals.

More information on the green chemistry program is available at: http://www.epa.gov/greenchemistry.

Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.

Compostable products are a tiny fraction of America’s $8-billion-to-$12-billion-a-year container and packaging industry, but demand is growing.