ICYMI: “Beyond PFAS-free Packaging” Webinar Recap

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and ChemFORWARD recently shared the initial results from the Safe + Circular Materials Collaborative. This year-long supply chain collaboration explored the challenges of circular packaging and solutions to accelerate the transition to safer alternatives.

Karen Hagerman, Director of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition framed the discussion, “While this webinar will focus on PFAS-free alternatives, our real 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.”

In the webinar broadcast to more than 300 live participations on November 10, Kyle Bucklin, Director of Engineering and Commercialization at World Centric, and Zack Leimkuehler, Vice President of New Business Development at Ahlstrom, shared their PFAS-free solutions and experiences participating in a pilot to rigorously assess the chemicals in their solutions to ensure safety for humans and the environment.

Stacy Glass, Co-founder and Executive Director at ChemFORWARD, spoke to the driving force behind the Beyond PFAS-Free pilot, “Regulations and restricted substances lists (RSLs) indicate what not to use, but the next question is: What to use instead? Without robust, high-quality data, this question cannot be answered and everyone in the value chain is vulnerable to regrettable substitutions.”

ChemFORWARD led the pilot project to use third-party toxicology firms, full disclosure (under NDA where necessary), and chemical hazard assessments to verify safer alternatives nominated by members of the Collaborative. NSF International was selected as the lead assessor and the ChemFORWARD SAFER program rules were used to evaluate the raw materials.

Leimkuehler and Bucklin shared some of their challenges and opportunities in pursuing the ChemFORWARD SAFER designation for their products. Highlights included:

Disclosure to a Third-Party Assessor and IP Protection

Kelly Magurany, M.Sc. DABT, Principal Research Toxicologist & Health Advisory Board Secretary at NSF International and lead assessor on the pilot provided important context, “Protection of confidential business information is critical to promote financial investment for innovative solutions to replace substances of concern like PFAS. Disclosure to a neutral third-party under a non-disclosure agreement allows for transparency of the chemical hazard assessments while protecting intellectual property for each member of the supply chain.”

Zack Leimkuehler: As part of the program, we had to ask our suppliers to make disclosures directly to the third-party assessor, NSF International. We don’t even get to see some of that information, which keeps the confidentiality of the supply chain intact and allows comfort for all parties to participate and to lend their voice.

Kyle Bucklin: Overall, pursuing the SAFER designation was a positive experience for us because we had confidence that our proprietary, breakthrough technology and data was secure and redacted from the public.

Shared Repository of Chemical Hazard Assessments

Stacy Glass: Lack of cost-effective, high-quality, chemical hazard data has long been a barrier for many companies pursuing safer chemistry. ChemFORWARD developed a digital infrastructure and has been populating a first-of-its-kind, globally harmonized repository of chemical hazard assessments with a focus on safer alternatives.

Kyle Bucklin: The fact that our constituent ingredients were already in the repository made it a seamless process.

Zack Leimkuehler: Our assessor was able to use some existing assessments in the repository and we were also contributors to continuing to populate the database. We recognize that our suppliers will also have a large part to play in contributing to the database and making sure that that information is available early in the process. Ultimately, it reduces the cost and makes this process faster and easier.

Supply Chain Adoption

Karen Hagerman: During the Collaborative, we realized that we need somewhere to house materials that have gone through these assessments and make it easier for individuals throughout the supply chain to actually know what’s out there and to know that these solutions exist. So, as a result, SPC is developing CleanPackage, a registry of trade name materials that can be used by manufacturers, converters, and really anyone that’s looking to find materials that have been verified through SAFER or other credible programs.” CleanPackage is designed to help suppliers demonstrate that their products are safe for humans and the environment and build trust throughout the supply chain based on rigorous third-party processes that offer trust and transparency.

Zack Leimkuehler: The future of innovation in the packaging supply chain depends on reliable chemical hazard assessment to confirm that materials are verified to be safe for human health and reduce environmental impacts. ChemFORWARD and SPC are building the infrastructure to enable a rigorous evaluation that protects confidential business information from upstream to downstream.

The free recording of “Beyond PFAS-free Packaging” is available through Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s learning resources.