Healthy Business Strategies:
Benign by Design
To create an economy that sustains life, we need to develop a materials economy that protects ecosystems and human health. We need products made from non-toxic materials that are biodegradable, materials that can be used in closed loop recycled and production processes powered by renewable energy. We need material systems that sustain life, where the outputs from extracting and growing raw materials, manufacturing chemicals and materials and manufacturing products are ultimately benign inputs into ecological cycles.
Benign by design offers environmentally conscious companies the opportunity to create value across their business by designing products with positive life cycle impacts.
To start the journey of designing more environmentally benign consumer products, an assessment framework that drives innovation that benefits human health and environment, social justice, economics, and technical performance is a necessary first step. While there have been many tools available to help businesses, the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production’s (LCSP) Alternative Assessment Framework is one of the most comprehensive open source frameworks that encourages investment in solutions rather than problems. Their assessment framework provides a set of overlapping evaluation modules with methods, tools and databases that allow for relatively quick and scientifically robust decisions. Click here to download the assessment methodology.
Prevention, precaution, substitution and life cycle perspective are some of the core principles that guide development across the evaluation models. CPA’s report Healthy Business Strategies for Transforming the Toxic Chemical Economy includes a set of case studies highlighting companies who are designing in a set of evaluation modules that allow for the production of products that yield better environmental and economic benefits.
CPA’s Green Screen is a new comparative assessment tool that guides a precautionary approach to how we evaluate chemicals. With specific benchmarking criteria, companies can make more informed decisions about chemicals that ultimately will lead to greener chemicals coming to the market place. Click here to learn more about the Green Screen. This tool can contribute to the evaluation models in LCSP’s alternative assessment framework. It can also contribute to the chemical assessment value of a life cycle study on a particular chemical.
