Safe + Circular packaging Materials Collaborative
This Collaborative is a partnership effort between the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and ChemFORWARD to address the challenges of safe and circular packaging materials and explore safer alternatives.
PFAS-Free, BPA-Free, Phthalate-Free… What’s Next?!
Regulations and RSLs indicate what not to use, but the next question is what to use instead. Without robust, comprehensive data, this question cannot be answered and everyone in the value chain is vulnerable to regrettable substitutions.
To accelerate adoption of safer chemistry and improved feedstocks for circularity, ChemFORWARD created the SAFER designation for building block-materials that have been assessed and verified by trade name and has partnered with the Sustainable Packaging Coaliiton to scale the availability of safer inputs for circular systems.
Our initial efforts have been focused on high priority functional areas such as PFAS-free alternatives, plastic additives, and pigments. Our goal in this work is to ensure that all chemicals used in packaging are safer, that alternatives are assessed early so we can avoid regrettable substitutions, and that packaging that is designed to be circular is not resulting in increased health concerns.
Beyond PFAS-Free Packaging
The future of innovation in the packaging supply chain depends on reliable chemical hazard assessment to confirm that materials are free of chemicals with high hazards and are verified to be safer for human health and environmental impacts.
ChemFORWARD and SPC are building the infrastructure to enable a rigorous evaluation that protects confidential business information from upstream to downstream.
Plastic Additives Optimization Tool
This free tool supports the rapid elimination of chemicals of concern and the optimization of plastic feedstocks with safer alternatives to accelerate circularity.
Check the chemical hazard profile of over 1100 additives used in plastics organized by function and material compatibility. Learn more >>
iPCB Pigments Resource
This free searchable dataset of nearly 400 pigments is organized by chemical name, CAS#, color, and presence of chlorine.
The tool can be used to find alternatives by avoiding those containing or manufactured with chlorine and thus reducing the likelihood of containing iPCBs. Learn more >>
CleanPackage
…coming soon
A program of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to accelerate the availability of safe and circular building block materials for packaging.
Trade name raw materials are evaluated by approved third party programs that meet rigorous disclosure and assessment requirements. Suppliers list their ingredients in CleanPackage, an online registry of vetted materials available to SPC members.
ChemFORWARD’s SAFER program offers a cost-effective pathway to listing in the CleanPackage registry. Coming April 2023
ChemFORWARD SAFER was designed to help suppliers demonstrate human and environmental safety and build trust with their customers based on a rigorous, third-party process. Confidential business information is protected while providing greater transparency and making it easier for everyone to use trusted assessment information throughout the value chain.
Utilizing a unique data-sharing model, pre-screening and assessment is fast and cost-effective for suppliers. With a rapidly growing repository of chemical hazard data and safer alternatives, suppliers benefit from existing data to conduct assessments. When new data is needed, qualified toxicologists create the chemical hazard assessments that continue to populate the shared repository.
Assessed and verified trade name ingredients are the next step in accelerating supply chain adoption of safer alternatives - providing greater transparency and making it easier for everyone to use assessment information throughout the value chain.
