Pollution Prevention

2025 Safer Chemistry Challenge Program

Introduction

The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) has launched the 2025 Safer Chemistry Challenge Program, a voluntary initiative that encourages product manufacturers, industries, retailers, public institutions and others to reduce the use and generation of chemicals of concern through pollution prevention measures. Illinois EPA is a member of NPPR, which is the largest membership organization in the U.S. devoted to education, training, partnerships and policy development on pollution prevention strategies.

Benefits

The Safer Chemistry Challenge Program (SCCP) offers companies and others a unique opportunity to gain recognition for transitioning to greener and more sustainable products and processes. There also are tangible benefits to participating in the program.

By reducing the use of problematic chemicals in the products they manufacture or use, facilities can:

• Contribute to a cleaner environment
• Lower operating costs
• Realize new market opportunities
• Improve competitive advantage
• Stay ahead of new regulatory developments.

Basic Information

Companies that join the SCCP must target at least five chemicals of concern to human health and the environment. They may select chemicals for reduction that meet their own stewardship goals, or use the SCCP list of priority chemicals as guidance. This list includes chemicals that are toxic, persist in the environment and bioaccumulate in food chains.

The reductions in priority chemical use must meet the following objectives, in addition to being measurable and verifiable:

• 25% reduction by 2025 (2010 baseline)
• Two interim targets
  • 10% by 2015
  • 15% by 2020

The SCCP places an emphasis on reducing the use or generation of chemicals of concern through pollution prevention (also known as "source reduction") practices. These practices include:

• Making changes in production processes
• Moving toward cleaner technologies that avoid the use and generation of toxic chemicals
• Changing raw materials to include benign or low toxicity materials that degrade into innocuous substances
• Using tools and design options in support of green chemistry principles
• Selecting and using safer chemical alternatives

NPPR is partnering with the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable, Clean Production Action and the Great Lakes Green Chemistry Network to recruit 50-100 companies into a program. The goal is to prevent 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals from entering the Great Lakes ecosystem. Additionally, NPPR with its partners plans to host two conferences, six GreenScreen™ trainings and two webinars to help companies use green chemistry tools for selecting safer chemicals for their products.

Advisory Panel

NPPR has created a technical advisory panel to provide input on implementation of the SCCP. The panel includes representatives of Hewlett-Packard, Staples, Herman Miller, NSF International, Babcock Warner Institute and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Learn More

For more information about SCCP, visit the Safer Chemistry Challenge Program web page at the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable.