Green Chemicals
Green chemistry is
innovative, smart, and ethically responsible. Two new fact sheets describe
1) “Why We Need Green Chemistry” and 2) “Why Promote Green Chemistry.” Click on either image or the highlighted link to download a pdf of each fact sheet.
Click on the image above for Green Screen for Safer Chemicals Report
Download the Green Screen White Paper
Click on the image above for Healthy Business Strategies Report
CPA advances the design and adoption of chemicals that are inherently safer for the environment and human health by creating tools and advancing policies that promote green chemistry and safer chemicals production and use.
What Is Green Chemistry?
“Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.” (Anastas and Warner, 2000).
Green chemistry is innovative, smart, and ethically responsible. The most successful chemical companies of the future will be those who exploit its opportunities to their competitive advantage, and the most successful chemists of the future will be those who use green chemistry concepts in Research and Development, innovation and education.
The Green Screen for Safer Chemicals:
CPA’s Green Screen is the first free, publicly accessible screening tool to promote the design, manufacture and use of safer chemicals. It is an important roadmap to green chemistry and is already helping major companies and governments to substitute hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives.
It does this by defining four benchmarks on the path to safer chemicals
- Benchmark 1:
Avoid—Chemical of high concern - Benchmark 2:
Use but search for safer substitutes - Benchmark 3:
Use but still opportunity for improvement - Benchmark 4:
Prefer—Safer chemical
Users are also using the ‘Green Screen approach’ to first eliminate the use of highly hazardous chemicals and then move to safer chemicals through informed substitution.
Our first application of the Green Screen was to the common brominated flame retardant, Deca-BDE, used in TV casings. This contentious chemical has been the focus of political and company action. Click here for more information.
