Use of GreenScreen® in Corporate Chemicals Management
GreenScreen is a platform for internal chemical screening programs and tracking chemical inventories. Businesses use GreenScreen to identify and compare hazard characteristics of chemicals, materials and products.
Apple
In 2018 Apple reported they had worked with their suppliers to replace all GreenScreenⓇ Benchmark 1 and 2 cleaners with green alternatives at 18 final assembly facilities worldwide. Read Apple Supplier Responsibility 2018 Progress Report here.
Apple also uses GreenScreen to screen materials in their products, and apply their most rigorous controls to materials that are in prolonged skin contact. Apple’s toxicologists review results from testing and full material disclosure to generate comprehensive hazard and risk assessments including GreenScreen. Only materials that pass their rigorous review process are accepted for Apple products. Read more in the Apple Environmental Responsibility 2018 Report.
Garmon Chemicals
Garmon Chemicals is an Italian chemical company that develops innovative chemical formulations used in garment finishing such as denim jeans and other fashion items. Garmon’s approach is to screen out chemicals of high concern in the design process using GreenScreen and the US EPA Safer Choice Program. Chemicals of high concern, defined as those assessed as GreenScreen Benchmark-1 or with a GreenScreen List Translator score of LT-1 chemicals are screened out of its products. Using this framework, the company has reformulated or developed from scratch an entirely new suite of formulations that meet the needs of brands to create the vast array of denim styles consumers have come to expect, such as stone wash, light bleached finishes, and authentic worn products. Learn more about Garmon Chemicals.
Google’s Healthy Materials Program incorporates GreenScreen as part of its process to identify environmentally preferable building products and materials. Under this Program, Google has established criteria for rating building materials based on established industry standards that value transparency and material health. Products are scored based on the level of chemical ingredient disclosure, chemical ingredient hazard reduction and transparency. Manufacturers can submit product information into Google’s Portico database for scoring and assessment against the criteria. There are a number of ways in which product information can be provided and points awarded. Manufacturers can complete and submit a Health Product Declaration (HPD). Under this option, products are awarded points depending on the level of disclosure used to create the HPD; chemical ingredient hazards are documented using GreenScreen List Translator scores. Products with no GreenScreen List Translator LT-1 scores are awarded higher points. Manufacturers can also complete and provide GreenScreen Assessments for product chemical ingredients. Products are awarded points depending on level of disclosure and presence of GreenScreen Benchmark-1 chemicals.
Products which earn sufficient points are available to be specified and procured for Google design and construction projects around the globe. Learn more about Google’s Healthy Materials Program here and Portico here.
Klean Kanteen
Klean Kanteen integrated the use of GreenScreen and GreenScreen List Translator in the product development of Klean Coat™ a chip-resistant, durable powder coat finish for their reusable bottles. Learn about the team’s step by step process to achieve a safer powder finish in a recent webinar which Klean Kanteen is keen to share to encourage other companies to understand the process of GreenScreen integration into a material selection process. Access the webinar here and the Outdoor Industry Association bulletin article here.
H&M
H&M views GreenScreen as ‘currently the best publicly available process to assess the hazard of chemicals’ and used the GreenScreen List Translator to develop their Manufacturing Restricted Substance List (MRSL). View the process they use here.
Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
Hewlett-Packard, Inc. uses GreenScreen to assess hundreds of substances, including alternative flame retardant and plasticizer chemicals, with the goal of avoiding regrettable substitutions - where a known chemical of high concern is replaced with an untested, unevaluated chemical that is later found to be hazardous and regulated. The organization also uses GreenScreen to articulate materials goals to suppliers and chemical formulators. Read more about HP’s use of GreenScreen in materials selection decisions and alternatives assessment and procurement.
Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) has developed a Screened Chemistry program that assesses the environmental and human health impact of chemicals used in the garment finishing process to manufacture LS&Co. products. The framework incorporates GreenScreen and the U.S. EPA’s Safer Choice Program to determine which chemical substances are best in class or better alternatives. Once a Licensed GreenScreen Profiler has assessed each chemical within a formulation, an overall weighted score is assigned. Formulations that contain a Benchmark-3 or Benchmark-4 chemical substance (or full green circle on the U.S. EPA SCIL list) are considered preferred substances and earn a higher score than formulations that contain, for example, Benchmark-1 substances. This scoring system allows LS&Co. to create a preferred list of chemicals, work with chemical suppliers and garment manufacturers to eliminate chemicals of concern and gain more visibility into the chemicals used to manufacture its products. The framework also prioritizes the assessment of chemicals based on hazards and ultimately rewards suppliers that choose chemicals that are best in class or better alternatives. Learn more about Levi’s Screened Chemistry and the US EPA’s Safer Choice Program here.