Chemicals can carry ‘sustainable’ labels, but Bluesign will test claims
Swiss organisation Bluesign will now make it possible for users of its system to search for sustainable products.
Bluesign has been working since 2000 to help brands and manufacturers remove hazardous chemicals from their supply chains and has set up a catalogue of approved chemical products to help users make more sustainable choices.
However, until now users did not have the option of searching the list of more than 20,000 products to find chemicals that Bluesign recognises as being ‘sustainable’.
“Sustainable chemistry is a holistic concept that strives to remediate or minimise negative impacts and enhance positive impacts on the environment, economy and society,” Bluesign said on announcing the change. “Sustainable chemicals should be designed for the circular economy, should accelerate the use of sustainable feedstocks, increase resource efficiency in downstream applications and contribute to the longevity of consumer products, while avoiding inherent properties that are harmful to human health and the environment.”
Under the new set-up, partner chemical suppliers will be able to claim that certain products have “sustainability attributes”. Bluesign will verify these sustainability claims through on-site and chemical assessments.
Criteria it will take into account will focus on aspects of common sustainability claims from chemicals manufacturers, for example that products have bio-based or recycled content.
For Bluesign to uphold bio-based claims, a chemical product will need to contain at least 20% biomass content by weight, in the form of biomass-derived carbon and this biomass content must originate from land that is certified sustainable.
Similarly, for recycled content, the chemical product must contain at least 20% recycled content by weight, with only the dry content of the chemical product, excluding water, being taken into account.
Bluesign said partner chemical suppliers will be able to start to register selected sustainability attributes for their products later this year.
Image: Schoeller Technologies
