California Non-Profit Formed to Certify the Sustainability of Products

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Green Chemisty:

On May 20, 2010, Google held a public event at its headquarters in Mountain View, California to announce the launch of the non-profit, the Green Products Innovation Institute (GPII).  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, several top Google executives, and other notables attended the event.  The Institute was formed to help companies comply with California’s Green Chemistry Initiative, as well as to advance the safety and sustainability of consumer products generally.  The Institute will certify products meeting certain criteria and will provide a publicly-accessible database to help companies identify alternatives to chemicals of potential concern.

GPII appears to enjoy the support of California regulators and several large companies, and its work programs are responsive to current market demands, so readers of this blog may want to follow GPII and its initiatives.  Whether the Institute will succeed in accomplishing its larger goals or instead merely implement a program with niche appeal remains to be seen.  Further details about GPII are set out below.

Product Certification

GPII will use the so-called “cradle-to-cradle” (C2C) framework developed by William McDonough and Michael Braungart of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) to establish a rating system. Products meeting the rating system’s criteria will receive the Institute’s C2C certification mark, indicating that the product has been designed or re-designed for sustainability.  GPII will train assessors, called “Licensed Assessment Partners (LAPs),” to assist companies in complying with protocol and meeting the ratings criteria, but also to advise on compliance with California’s Green Chemistry regulations.  LAPs will submit their product assessments to GPII for review and approval before the Institute will issue the C2C certifications.

The C2C framework is intended to reduce waste through innovative product design.  The goal is to enable product components and end-of-life products to be capable of use as raw materials for other products or as nutrients for ecosystems.  The framework has five criteria that GPII’s rating system will build upon.  Products will be evaluated for compliance with criteria in each of the following categories:  (1) safe and appropriately sourced materials; (2) material reutilization; (3) renewable energy; (4) access to and release of abundant, clean water; and (5) social responsibility.  After the GPII has rated a product and issued the C2C certification, the Institute will continue to work with a company to identify opportunities for improvement across each of the five categories.

Public Database

In addition to its product certification, GPII is developing a database that tracks product chemical data and also creates a list of “positive” alternative chemicals, materials, and processes.   According to GPII’s website, the database is intended to help companies reformulate or retool to create new products and to augment the Toxics Information Clearinghouse being developed by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) as part of California’s Green Chemistry Initiative.  DTSC and the California Environmental Protection Agency (CEPA) have expressed interest in using the database to help provide stakeholders with data on the toxicity characteristics of chemicals and materials used in products.

The database will be compiled from information companies share with the Institute about the chemicals and materials, along with manufacturing processes, used to produce their products.  The database will be partially proprietary, and partially collaborative and public.  The proprietary portion consists of a detailed review of the makeup of a product.  The characteristics of individual chemicals and materials, disassociated from product formulations, will become public.  It’s not clear from GPII’s website whether receipt of the C2C product certification will be conditioned on reaching an agreement to publicly share data.

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Additional information about GPII is available here.

Upcoming ABA-UM Law Conference on TSCA Reform in Baltimore, MD

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TSCA Reform:

38th National Spring Conference on the Environment

Chemicals Regulation: REACHing For TSCA Reform

Date:   June 11, 2010

Enacted in 1976, the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) is the primary means by which the United States regulates commercial chemicals. Although intended to be ambitious in scope, TSCA has proven to be a poor regulatory framework and generally is considered inadequate. In the 33 years since its enactment, advances in toxicology and analytical chemistry have raised new questions about the effects of certain chemicals on human health and the environment. These questions have left the public anxious and confused about the safety of myriad different products. Technology seems to have outstripped the regulatory regime.

There is a growing national consensus that the United States needs to modernize its chemical management law. In recent years, individual states have entered what they perceive to be a regulatory vacuum, raising the prospect of an inconsistent regulatory patchwork. The European Union’s recently enacted REACH initiative has dramatically expanded the regulatory compliance obligations for United States companies doing business in the EU. Moreover, the Obama Administration has identified risk-based chemical regulation as one of its environmental priorities. While affirming the Administration’s commitment to green innovation, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson also has called on Congress to grant the Agency new enforcement authority and has proposed a new funding mechanism for generating the information necessary to assess chemical safety. Recent high-profile Congressional hearings also underscore the momentum for change. It is very likely that both Houses of Congress will take up the issue of TSCA reform in the next turn.

This 38th National Spring Conference on the Environment addresses the question of chemical management regulation. Featuring prominent federal, state, and private-sector experts at the center of the emerging proposals for TSCA reform, the day-long conference will provide a wide-ranging discussion about the unprecedented opportunities and challenges inherent in crafting a national regulatory framework capable of ensuring public and environmental safety while also promoting green-chemistry innovation. The conference will consider the legal implications of regulatory change and will focus on the key policy choices at the heart of the reform process.

Keynote presentations from the primary initiator of TSCA and the Senior U.S. EPA Policy Advisor responsible for the Agency’s current TSCA efforts will add unique and timely perspectives to this critical set of discussions.

Program Co-Chairs
Rebecca M. Bratspies • Sara K. Orr
Blake A. Biles

This conference is hosted by the University of Maryland of Maryland School of Law and takes place in the Ceremonial Moot Court Room at the Nathan Patz Law Center, 500 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, Maryland.

http://new.abanet.org/committees/environmental/Pages/38thNationalSpringConference.aspx

Upcoming Meeting of California's Green Ribbon Science Panel

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Green Chemistry – California:

For those readers interested in learning more about California’s Green Chemistry Initiative and the State’s draft regulations for safer products, you might be interested in participating via webcast in the upcoming Green Ribbon Science Panel’s meeting where the regulations will be discussed.

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) just circulated the following reminder to its listserv:

“DTSC will convene the Green Ribbon Science Panel (GRSP) on May 12 – 13, 2010 to receive input on the outline of the Draft Regulations for Safer Products and on concepts to expand DTSC’s pollution prevention program as addressed in the California Green Chemistry Initiative Final Report. The meeting will be held in Sacramento and be available via webcast.

May 12, 2010, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. PDT May 13, 2010, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT

See information about the GRSP, the agenda, how to participate and provide input at:

http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/GreenRibbon.cfm

. . . .

The meeting will be webcast at: http://www.dgs.ca.gov/Webcasts.htm

To view and comment on the outline of the Draft Regulations for Safer Products go to: http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/safer_products_regs_outline.cfm

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from the DTSC Green Chemistry Initiative Listserv or other Listservs, please go to http://www.calepa.ca.gov/listservs/dtsc.  For information on DTSC`s Green Chemistry Initiative, go to http://www.dtsc.ca.gov/PollutionPrevention/GreenChemistryInitiative/index.cfm“

14th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference

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Green Chemistry:

The American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) will hold the 14th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Washington, D.C. on June 21 – 23, 2010.  Pasted below is a summary of the conference, excerpted from the ACS GCI website.  For more information, follow the link embedded below the summary.

“The 14th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference returns to downtown Washington, DC.  With the theme “Innovation and Application” and with one of the renowned founders of green chemistry, Dr. John Warner (President and CTO, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry) as the chair, this conference is shaping up to be one you won’t want to miss! Confirmed keynote speakers include the popular environmentalist, entrepreneur and author Paul Hawken; 2005 Nobel Prize winner, Dr. Robert Grubbs; Senior Vice President of Research and Technology at 3M, Mr. Steven Webster; and US Congressman John Tierney (D-MA), co-sponsor of the “Green Jobs Act.”

Schedule

(subject to change)

Monday

  • Keynote address presented by Paul Hawken (renowned environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author who leads the Highwater Research LLC and Natural Capital Institute)
  • Technical Sessions
  • Exhibits
  • Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Ceremony (pre-registration required)

Tuesday

  • Technical Sessions
  • Luncheon with guest speaker US Congressman John Tierney (D-MA, co-sponsor of the “Green Jobs Act”)
  • Keynote address presented by Robert Grubbs, 2005 Nobel Prize winner
  • Poster Session
  • Exhibits
  • Reception

Wednesday

  • Keynote address presented by Mr. Steven Webster (Senior Vice President Research and Technology Commercialization, 3M)
  • Technical Sessions
  • Exhibits
  • Closing session keynote address presented by Dr. John Warner (President and CTO, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry)

Thursday

  • Student Workshop (pre-registration required)”

http://acswebcontent.acs.org/gcande/

Welcome!

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Welcome to the Green Chemistry Law Report, a legal blog produced by Verdant Law, PLLC, a boutique environmental and sustainability law firm in Washington, D.C.  Although located in the United States capital, Verdant has a global perspective, providing high-quality, personalized legal services to domestic and foreign clients on matters at the federal, state, and local levels, as well as those arising internationally.

Green Chemistry and Chemicals Management is one of the Firm’s principal areas of practice.  Because this is a rapidly evolving area, articles and conference speeches are not as well-suited to a timely discussion of the issues as a legal blog is.  Therefore, the Firm is launching the Green Chemistry Law Report to provide timely, in-depth coverage of regulatory issues concerning chemicals and products, and hopefully serve as a forum for discussing them.  Here you will find analysis and commentary on the latest legal and regulatory developments, as well as notices about news and events. Some of the topics the Report will cover include:

  • TSCA Reform,
  • REACh,
  • Product stewardship,
  • CEPA, 1999 and
  • California’s Green Chemistry Initiative.

So, check back frequently and actively participate.  And again, Welcome to the Green Chemistry Law Report!