ChemFORWARD’s Plastic Additives Optimization Tool Expands to Include Trade Name Materials - still freely available!
Since its launch in April, ChemFORWARD’s free Plastic Additive Optimization Tool has helped hundreds of formulators and designers check the chemical hazard profile of over 1100 plastic additives and find safer alternatives. Tackling this issue is proving essential to the circular economy helping to ensure that hazardous additives are not recycled into new products, which could lead to human and environmental exposure.
The platform took another leap forward this week, adding trade name raw materials. “Moving beyond generic single chemical data to trade name data is the next step in transparency and accelerating supply chain adoption of safer alternatives,” explained Stacy Glass, executive director at ChemFORWARD.
BASF is leading the way, adding five trade name plasticizers to the platform. Before being posted on the platform the materials had to first meet ChemFORWARD’s rigorous evaluation of human health and environmental criteria for preferred alternatives through the organization’s SAFER program. The qualifying products include polymeric plasticizers Palamoll® 652, 654, and 656 as well as the important alternative non-ortho-phthalate plasticizers Hexamoll® DINCH and Palatinol® DOTP.
Pat Harmon, Industry Manager at BASF, provides context for this pursuit, “The ChemFORWARD database for chemical hazard assessments is an important and helpful way for formulators and other stakeholders to identify ingredients with a lower hazard profile. We believe the new ChemFORWARD SAFER program is a great enhancement in the marketplace. A certification of our products by trade name helps us to distinguish our offering from others.”
The purpose of the SAFER program is to ensure human and environmental safety, to build trust throughout the supply chain with third-party verified transparency, and to ensure the value chain stays ahead of regulations and consumer trends.
“Now, chemical suppliers have the option to market their safer alternatives and to validate their low hazard claims through an independent, trusted platform. In this way, we create a bridge between chemical suppliers, their customers and prospective customers with data that has been traditionally hard to come by, difficult to interpret and sometimes hard to trust," Glass explained.
High-level records for all SAFER materials are publicly available on ChemFORWARD’s website. Detailed assessment records are housed on ChemFORWARD’s Chemical Optimization Platform available by subscription or, for a limited time, free through the Plastic Additives Optimization Tool.
To learn more about ChemFORWARD’s SAFER program, contact info@chemforward.org or visit www.chemforward.org/SAFER.
