Terry Knowles, European Editor02.22.23
Times are changing for the coatings and ink sectors as part of Europe's chemical industry and the major engine driving these changes is the EU's Green Deal (among others), which seeks to reshape the industry in a much more eco-friendly way over the next 25 years or so.
The over-arching drivers are to make Europe the cleanest continent on the planet as well as a self-sufficient one, in chemical terms at least. These ambitions knit together serendipitously with the newer concepts of circular economies and bio-based chemicals. Now there are further ambitions to inform consumers on a new level about the environmental impacts and any circular history in their product choices.
As a consumer aside, I couldn't help but notice a carton of product I bought recently had information on the coatings used on it, and this kind of eco-transparency is going to be the route that all consumer goods will be funnelled down: selling on account of product “history” and packaging “legitimacy” as measured by environmental yardsticks.
Recently, with a new dawn approaching in terms of chemical design and the thinking behind it, the European Commission has suggested setting up a European Assessment Framework for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) chemicals, and CEFIC (the European Chemical Industry Council) has soon put a strong hand on the tiller to steer it in the right direction, insofar as the course to be charted must navigate the demands that the chemical sector is required to achieve as well as the processes that are left for them to achieve them.
Early feedback from CEFIC suggested that there was too much emphasis placed on safety assessment and not enough accent falling on the cleaner objectives of sustainable chemicals, circular chemical use and the socio-economic impacts that they bring. CEFIC also suggested the adoption of an innovation-friendly system that would highlight areas for industry where more R&D work would be necessary.
The original idea proposed had been too arbitrary in terms of laying down cut-off criteria or working on exclusionary principles. Further still, CEFIC raised awareness that generating new and even greater levels of data would have the impact of requiring more corporate resources.
• Construction
• Packaging
• Automotive
• Energy
• Textiles
• Electronics
The IRISS Project, as it is known, is consortium-based and led by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL). CEFIC has now joined it.
As industry is required to design and produce materials and their associated processes in more eco-friendly ways, the project takes into account factors such as functionality, life cycle assessment, circularity, safety and climate neutrality as applied to the design of next-generation technologies and chemistries, which is in excellent alignment with CEFIC's suggestions in terms of how an assessment framework should function.
Briefly, the IRISS Project has five aims:
• Development of a SSbD ecosystem that is supportive for the uptake and utilization of Safe-by-Design (SbD) and Sustainable-by-Design (SusbD) strategies by industry, particularly SMEs.
• To contribute to criteria and guiding principles for SusbD development driven by life cycle thinking in materials and product design in a way which reflects and draws on current European and global initiatives.
• Development of SSbD roadmaps that reflect a) scientific research needs, b) skills, competences and education needs, and c) knowledge and information sharing needs. The roadmaps would be developed co-operatively for the implementation of SSbD in industry and society, including prioritised steps within research, innovation, skill demands, management and governance.
• Creation of a monitoring and evaluation programme that can scan all of the latest knowledge, information gaps and in turn translates these into specific R&D questions and governance needs that feed into systematic roadmap updates.
• To establish a structure for a permanent, gender balanced, inclusive, international and sustainable network of experts.
This approach is interesting. By taking a cross-sectional cut across a swathe of major consumer products, the different layers of involvement that the industry is exposed to, e.g. with product finishing, printing, coatings etc., are brought out and welcomed into a combination of dialogue and development that will draw them further into cleaner technologies and even greater social and environmental responsibility.
Instead, it is intended to be a collection of historical marks or comments, maybe even stamps, that will offer consumers greater information on product transparency and traceability (including environmental impacts), as well as data on a product's life cycle.
This is a big ask for industry because circular markets, the traceability and environmental accountability of consumer goods have neither been embraced nor communicated before. Finding the means to communicate all that is relevant in circular product design in terms of industry co-operation will require both pragmatism and much communication. The digital product passport is yet another balancing act for industry, this time balancing the disclosure of required information without revealing confidential information.
Some sectors are already leaps and bounds ahead in terms of environmental accountability. The automotive sector is one of them and so this area is seeking to take a lead from that. For two decades the automotive sector has used the International Material Data System (IMDS) to record information on the many different materials employed in automotive assembly.
Major chemical companies such as Solvay and Dow have been using blockchain and encryption and CEFIC anticipates that these digital information sharing technologies (and in the case of encryption, protecting technologies) will become integral to the development of digital product passports. With this in mind, CEFIC has recommended that the following approaches are taken in the development of a digital product passport:
• Establish sectoral approaches for priority material streams based on potential health and/or environmental impact, and/or based on their relevance in contributing towards achieving circular economy targets. Not all participants in the chain have the same data requirements or access, so flexibility in terms of data visibility is desirable.
• Develop means of assessing technologies and for protecting confidential business data when transmitting substance information along the value chain, in order to meet the objective of the CEAP (Circular Economy Action Plan), while increasing recycling rates.
• Develop standardized requirements regarding the communication on relevant chemicals in products.
• Build on the experience from value chains and existing initiatives related to piloting new digital technologies. CEFIC considers that SCIP database (for substances of concern in complex products) should be evaluated ahead of any further data sharing obligations on other hazardous substances.
Digital product passports will become valuable for consumer choices and help to record what the products are made of, where they came from, what materials they have etc. It will be a major step up for corporate eco-accountability at every step in the chain.
The over-arching drivers are to make Europe the cleanest continent on the planet as well as a self-sufficient one, in chemical terms at least. These ambitions knit together serendipitously with the newer concepts of circular economies and bio-based chemicals. Now there are further ambitions to inform consumers on a new level about the environmental impacts and any circular history in their product choices.
As a consumer aside, I couldn't help but notice a carton of product I bought recently had information on the coatings used on it, and this kind of eco-transparency is going to be the route that all consumer goods will be funnelled down: selling on account of product “history” and packaging “legitimacy” as measured by environmental yardsticks.
Eyes on Safe and Sustainable Chemicals
The attractions of safe and sustainable chemicals for all requires very little explanation, and already there have been major changes take place in terms of seeking to substitute many chemicals with less hazardous alternatives, if not restricting or banning them altogether.Recently, with a new dawn approaching in terms of chemical design and the thinking behind it, the European Commission has suggested setting up a European Assessment Framework for Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) chemicals, and CEFIC (the European Chemical Industry Council) has soon put a strong hand on the tiller to steer it in the right direction, insofar as the course to be charted must navigate the demands that the chemical sector is required to achieve as well as the processes that are left for them to achieve them.
Early feedback from CEFIC suggested that there was too much emphasis placed on safety assessment and not enough accent falling on the cleaner objectives of sustainable chemicals, circular chemical use and the socio-economic impacts that they bring. CEFIC also suggested the adoption of an innovation-friendly system that would highlight areas for industry where more R&D work would be necessary.
The original idea proposed had been too arbitrary in terms of laying down cut-off criteria or working on exclusionary principles. Further still, CEFIC raised awareness that generating new and even greater levels of data would have the impact of requiring more corporate resources.
Industry Value Chains Under the Microscope
In order to meet the objectives set out by the EU's Green Deal, the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a new project has been implemented, which rather than being applied to different segments of industry, has taken the approach of being applied across six different value chains. These are:• Construction
• Packaging
• Automotive
• Energy
• Textiles
• Electronics
The IRISS Project, as it is known, is consortium-based and led by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL). CEFIC has now joined it.
As industry is required to design and produce materials and their associated processes in more eco-friendly ways, the project takes into account factors such as functionality, life cycle assessment, circularity, safety and climate neutrality as applied to the design of next-generation technologies and chemistries, which is in excellent alignment with CEFIC's suggestions in terms of how an assessment framework should function.
Briefly, the IRISS Project has five aims:
• Development of a SSbD ecosystem that is supportive for the uptake and utilization of Safe-by-Design (SbD) and Sustainable-by-Design (SusbD) strategies by industry, particularly SMEs.
• To contribute to criteria and guiding principles for SusbD development driven by life cycle thinking in materials and product design in a way which reflects and draws on current European and global initiatives.
• Development of SSbD roadmaps that reflect a) scientific research needs, b) skills, competences and education needs, and c) knowledge and information sharing needs. The roadmaps would be developed co-operatively for the implementation of SSbD in industry and society, including prioritised steps within research, innovation, skill demands, management and governance.
• Creation of a monitoring and evaluation programme that can scan all of the latest knowledge, information gaps and in turn translates these into specific R&D questions and governance needs that feed into systematic roadmap updates.
• To establish a structure for a permanent, gender balanced, inclusive, international and sustainable network of experts.
This approach is interesting. By taking a cross-sectional cut across a swathe of major consumer products, the different layers of involvement that the industry is exposed to, e.g. with product finishing, printing, coatings etc., are brought out and welcomed into a combination of dialogue and development that will draw them further into cleaner technologies and even greater social and environmental responsibility.
Digital Product Passports in 2024
Another area of new territory for industry which is due to arrive by the end of 2024 is the concept of digital passports for products. This concept is not as felicitously named as you might think, as it is nothing to do with the easy transportation of chemicals or goods between one country and another, aided by some sort of one-size-fits-all scannable code concept.Instead, it is intended to be a collection of historical marks or comments, maybe even stamps, that will offer consumers greater information on product transparency and traceability (including environmental impacts), as well as data on a product's life cycle.
This is a big ask for industry because circular markets, the traceability and environmental accountability of consumer goods have neither been embraced nor communicated before. Finding the means to communicate all that is relevant in circular product design in terms of industry co-operation will require both pragmatism and much communication. The digital product passport is yet another balancing act for industry, this time balancing the disclosure of required information without revealing confidential information.
Some sectors are already leaps and bounds ahead in terms of environmental accountability. The automotive sector is one of them and so this area is seeking to take a lead from that. For two decades the automotive sector has used the International Material Data System (IMDS) to record information on the many different materials employed in automotive assembly.
Major chemical companies such as Solvay and Dow have been using blockchain and encryption and CEFIC anticipates that these digital information sharing technologies (and in the case of encryption, protecting technologies) will become integral to the development of digital product passports. With this in mind, CEFIC has recommended that the following approaches are taken in the development of a digital product passport:
• Establish sectoral approaches for priority material streams based on potential health and/or environmental impact, and/or based on their relevance in contributing towards achieving circular economy targets. Not all participants in the chain have the same data requirements or access, so flexibility in terms of data visibility is desirable.
• Develop means of assessing technologies and for protecting confidential business data when transmitting substance information along the value chain, in order to meet the objective of the CEAP (Circular Economy Action Plan), while increasing recycling rates.
• Develop standardized requirements regarding the communication on relevant chemicals in products.
• Build on the experience from value chains and existing initiatives related to piloting new digital technologies. CEFIC considers that SCIP database (for substances of concern in complex products) should be evaluated ahead of any further data sharing obligations on other hazardous substances.
Digital product passports will become valuable for consumer choices and help to record what the products are made of, where they came from, what materials they have etc. It will be a major step up for corporate eco-accountability at every step in the chain.
