Introducing CleanPackage: Supporting Safe + Circular Materials for Packaging
As packaging design advances to support recyclability and compostability, safe building blocks can be hard to pinpoint and hazardous chemicals can be difficult to avoid. To help companies tackle this challenge, The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) is excited to launch CleanPackage, a database of verified safer alternative packaging materials.
Mirroring GreenBlue’s CleanGredients model, CleanPackage is a registry of trade name materials verified through ChemFORWARD SAFER and other credible programs, including Cradle to Cradle Certified (Material Health Gold or higher) and GreenScreen Certified (Gold or higher). Designed to fill the gap in chemical hazard data for packaging materials, this program helps suppliers demonstrate leadership in human and environmental safety, while strengthening trust with customers.
We are proud to offer CleanPackage as a new benefit to our SPC members!
Leveraging ChemFORWARD’s shared chemical hazard assessment repository makes this complex information more accessible, affordable, and consistent which enables faster more cost-effective material evaluation for suppliers. “This partnership and the CleanPackage registry is an essential infrastructure to scale the availability of safe and circular material building blocks,” added Stacy Glass, Co-founder and Executive Director at ChemFORWARD.
With over 40 current listings from leading companies including Ahlstrom, BASF, TotalEnergies Corbion, WorldCentric, and more, the registry offers a strong start for companies wanting to select safer alternatives from the start.
“It takes a lot more information to prove that a chemical is inherently safe than it does to prove that it is toxic. Just knowing that a chemical is a known carcinogen or that it is persistent, toxic, and mobile can be enough to rule it out as a good candidate for product applications. But to be sure that it is inherently benign for its intended use means that all relevant data gaps must be filled. A lack of hazard data does not mean that a chemical is inherently benign.”
Lauren Heine, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Director of Science, ChemFORWARD
What’s next? We’ll be working on adding materials to the registry – guiding suppliers to have their materials assessed and curating qualified products for posting on the registry. Suppliers can submit qualified products for consideration here. We’ll also be creating more resources to help companies choose safer materials in packaging. We’d love to hear from members: where are your biggest challenges? Are there particular chemistries that you’re having a hard time phasing out? What safer alternatives do you need? Most of all, we hope that SPC members will use CleanPackage to support their goals of using safe and circular materials in their packaging.
