Chemical Hazard Assessment and the GreenScreen™ for Safer Chemicals (original) (raw)

Issues in Environmental Science and Technology

Abstract

Whether driven by market pressures or increasing global regulations, businesses are seeking to understand better the hazards associated with the chemicals in their supply chain and to move toward the use of inherently safer alternatives to substances of high concern. In order to do so, they need reference tools that will allow them to compare options. Chemical hazard assessment (CHA) is an approach that allows one to compare chemicals based on inherent hazard and to make more informed decisions. Clean Production Action, a non‐profit organization, has developed the first freely available and fully transparent CHA methodology called the GreenScreen™ for Safer Chemicals (GreenScreen™). The method builds on national and international precedents for hazard classification including the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) and the US EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) Program Alternatives Assessment Criteria for Hazard Evaluation, and includes a structured decision logic in the form of Benchmarks. Clean Production Action has published all of the supporting documentation and is in the process of developing infrastructure to enable broader adoption of the GreenScreen™. This chapter traces the origins of the GreenScreen™, describes the process of applying the method, highlights how it can be and is being used to make more informed decisions by organizations including Hewlett‐Packard, Staples, Royal DSM and The Wercs and outlines the future direction of the GreenScreen™ program.

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