What is Green Chemistry?
Green Chemistry can be defined as the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, and application of chemical products.
Chemists, Product Stewards, and sustainability champions employ the principles of Green Chemistry to prevent pollution at the source. By iteration of design, Green Chemistry systematically removes hazards, and therefore risks, while preserving the function and efficiency of the product or process at hand. This approach to eliminating the intrinsic hazards of chemicals in the products around us necessarily eliminates the adverse impacts of those chemicals on human health and the environment.
Our Green Chemistry Methodology
The VelocityEHS Ingredient Level of Concern feature assists users in identifying and prioritizing ingredients of concern. This screening tool helps you determine which chemical ingredients in your product portfolio or raw materials may be candidates for the application of the principles of Green Chemistry and, thus, designing safer chemicals and products.
Using global regulatory data and published list information, VelocityEHS regulatory and subject matter experts completed a prioritized assessment to associate each regulatory list or list data type to a level of concern and identify substances that are or have the potential to be:
- toxic to humans or other organisms,
- damaging to ecosystems,
- persistent or bio accumulative, and/or
- dangerous to handle, use, or store.
This methodology assigns a level of concern to ingredients based on their appearance on the lists. For example, lists that include substances with well-known severe hazards or that are banned on an international scale will drive the highest level of concern (red). Conversely, a chemical on a list describing substances that are safe for use would have no level of concern (green).
Not all lists have a material impact for all users; many are specific to a certain location or industry sector. Yet, these lists can provide a picture of the regulatory burden and/or hazards of a substance. Candidate lists can signal a substance’s potential for future inclusion on lists of high concern, and lists in certain regions can be indicative of a potential for future regulatory burden in additional regions.
Some ingredients may not be listed on any of the current content; this is indicated as Unknown until sufficient data exists to make an assessment. Additionally, scoring may depend on the weight percent of an ingredient in a mixture. If no weight percent is given, it is assumed that that ingredient may be present up to 100%.
Green Chemistry Ingredient Level of Concern
- High Level of Concern (red). Ingredients with a “High Level of Concern” indicator typically appear on list(s) with a high regulatory burden, banned chemical list(s), and/or widely recognized list(s) with a high impact on sustainability. Presence on these list(s) generally present a strong case for removing/reducing the ingredient or substituting a safer chemical/process, generally resulting in a positive impact on the score.
- Medium Level of Concern (orange). Ingredients with a “Medium Level of Concern” indicator typically appear on list(s) with a moderate regulatory burden and moderate impact on sustainability. Presence on these list(s) generally present a case for removing/reducing the ingredient or substituting a safer chemical/process, generally resulting in a positive impact on the score.
- Low Level of Concern (yellow). Ingredients with a “Low Level of Concern” indicator typically appear on list(s) with some regulatory burden and some impact on sustainability. Presence on these list(s) may present a case for removing/reducing the ingredient or substituting a safer chemical/process, potentially resulting in a positive impact on the score.
- No Level of Concern (green). Ingredients with “No Level of Concern” indicator typically appear on list(s) of chemicals known to be safe with generally no impact on sustainability. There is generally no case for removing/reducing the ingredient or substituting a safer chemical/process. It’s important to note this indication may be specific to a certain industry, use case, or exposure scenario.
- Unknown Level of Concern (Grey). Ingredients with an “Unknown Level of Concern” indicator are not listed. This is a non-indicator, as the Level of Concern cannot be ascertained based on the current regulatory content. No data was found and more information is needed. It’s important to note that an Unknown Level of Concern is not the same as No Level of Concern.
