Resources

BizNGO 2023 Annual Meeting

Setting Bold Chemical Footprint Goals

December 6 & 7, 2023 Preservation Park, Nile Hall 
1233 Preservation Park Way, Oakland, CA 94612 Annual Conference

Outcomes

  • Chemical Footprint: defined chemicals of high concern and learned how to set goals and measure progress in chemical footprint reductions.
  • Environmental Justice (EJ): gained skills on how to integrate EJ into business policies and practices, and how to identify chemicals of concern and safer solutions to vulnerable populations.
  • Chemicals & International Frameworks: learned how to participate in and address chemicals in the United Nations Plastics Treaty, Biodiversity Convention, and the Global Framework on Chemicals.
  • Renewable Energy & Safer Chemicals: engaged in the emerging efforts to ensure that clean energy also contributes to a safer and healthier economy.
  • Supply Chain Transparency: shared best practices across sectors in knowing chemicals in products.
  • Circularity & Plastics: learned how to simultaneously address the challenging issues of both reducing plastic pollution and ensuring reusable alternatives use greener chemistries.

Download 2023 Presentations

Agenda Summary

December 6, 2023

  • Chemical Footprint:
    • Setting Bold Chemical Footprint Reduction Goals
    • Measuring & Tracking Chemical Footprints
  • Environmental Justice
    • Identifying Chemicals of Concern & Safer Solutions to Vulnerable Populations
    • Aspiring to & Implementing Environmental Justice
  • Student Posters & Reception

December 7, 2023

  • International Frameworks: Emerging Developments with Hazardous Chemicals in Plastics, Biodiversity, & Chemicals Management
  • Renewable Energy: Renewable Energy: Ensuring Clean Energy is Safer and Healthier—The Case for Safer Chemicals in Manufacturing & Products
  • Supply Chains: Illuminating Chemical Ingredients in Products & Manufacturing Operations
  • Circularity & Plastics: Avoiding Regrettable Substitutes and Selecting Safer Reusable Products

December 6 - Chemical Footprinting

8:00    Registration & Light Breakfast

9:00    Setting Bold Chemical Footprint Reduction Goals

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions
  • How is chemical footprinting used in your organization?
  • If chemical footprinting is not used in your organization, what information would be helpful in making it more accessible to you or other organizations?
  • What are barriers to using chemical footprinting?

10:40     Break

11:00    Measuring & Tracking Chemical Footprints

Facilitator: Mark Rossi, Executive Director, Clean Production Action

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • Where do you go to identify chemicals of concern? Which lists/databases do you use?
  • What is the value to having a standardized framework for tracking and reporting chemicals of concern? For example, along the lines of the Science Based Targets Initiative.
  • What are the challenges to having a standardized framework for tracking and reporting chemicals of concern?

12:30    Lunch

December 6 - Environmental Justice

1:30    Identifying Chemicals of Concern and Safer Solutions to Vulnerable Populations

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • How does your organization define its list of chemicals of concern?
  • What is your organization's chemical footprint reduction goal?
  • What is your business case for setting and promoting chemical footprint reduction goals?

2:45     Break

3:15    Aspiring to & Implementing Environmental Justice

Facilitator: Simona Balan, Supervisor, External Communications and Environmental Justice Unit, Safer Consumer Products Program, California Department of Toxic Substances Control

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • Which of these actions could be taken on by your organization right now?
  • How would you prioritize where to begin?
  • What would you add to this list?

5:15     Student Posters

Mia Wesselkamper: Sticky Plant Exudates and Extracts as Biodegradable Alternatives for PLU Sticker Adhesives

Cindy S Calderon Correra, Sonal Maroo,  Jillian Pape, Kevin Ru, Saoirse Stock: Alternatives to Halogenated Flame Retardants in Firefighter Station Wear

Tiffany Chen, Crystal Cho, Luke Elissiry, Sophie Koh, Farah Sevareid; UC Berkeley - College of Chemistry, College of Engineering, School of Public Health: From Dirty Laundry to a Cleaner Planet: Exploring Eco-friendly Alternatives to PVA in Detergent Products

Bruno Quintanilla Florian: "From Pest to Progress: Utilizing Apple Snail Shells for Chitosan-based Agricultural Enhancement

Drew Bernhard, Ephraim Neumann, Aila Rothweiler, Cynthia Torres, Jisoo Yu: Alternatives for Azodicarbonamide (ADCA) in Footwear Foams

Brittany Stinger: Exposure and Toxicity of Chemicals Associated with Firefighting

Haoyang He, Eric Schwartz, Oladele Ogunseitan, Julie Schoenung: Alternatives Assessment Evaluation of Nanopowder Recovery from Waste Printed Circuit Boards

Maryam Gamal Ibrahim, Julie M. Schoenung, and Oladele A. Ogunseitan: Mitigating PFAS Exposure in the Recovery of Critical Materials from E-waste

5:35    Reception

December 7

8:00 Registration & Light Breakfast

9:00    International Frameworks: Emerging Developments with Hazardous Chemicals in Plastics, Biodiversity, & Chemicals Management

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • How can the international frameworks on Biodiversity, Chemicals Management, and/or Plastics support or inform your work?
  • What information/resources would be helpful to making the work of international frameworks useful for your work?

10:40     Break

11:00    Renewable Energy: Ensuring Clean Energy is Safer and Healthier—The Case for Safer Chemicals in Manufacturing & Products

Facilitator: Alexandra McPherson, Director, Investor Environmental Health Network, Clean Production Action

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • What actionable strategies can be leveraged to advance safer chemical use in the renewable energy sector? Why should the renewable energy sector in general and the solar sector in particular be proactive in chemicals management beyond regulatory compliance?
  • What lessons learned from safer chemical transitions in other sectors should be considered in the renewable energy sector?Where is the solar sector in moving beyond regulatory compliance?
  • Who else should be at the table discussing safer chemicals in the renewables sector?
  • What tools, frameworks, and certifications are available to accelerate the movement away from hazardous chemicals to safer solution in the renewable energy sector?

     

     

12:30    Lunch

1:30    Supply Chains: Illuminating Chemical Ingredients in Products & Manufacturing Operations

Facilitator: Nicole Acevedo, Director of Material Health & Integrative Toxicology, WAP Sustainability

Speakers

Small Group Discussion Questions

  • What resources in supply chain transparency are or would be of use to your organization, sector, or supply chain?What is working in supply chain transparency?

  • What are the opportunities and barriers for asking for similar chemical ingredient information across sectors?

     

3:00     Break

3:30     Circularity & Chemicals: Reusables Food Packaging Materials & Preferred Safer Chemistry

Speakers

Plenary Discussion Questions

  • How do we ensure that reusable products are not regrettable reusables (e.g., water bottles with BPA)?
  • How do we ensure that reusable food packaging, service ware, and cookware do not contain regrettable substitutes?
  • Are products made from plastics acceptable in the reusable economy?
  • Which materials are more preferable for reusable products?
  • How can we make reusables more accessible?How do we define reusable?
  • How do we create demand for food packaging products that are both reusable and use environmentally preferable chemistrysafer products?
  • What incentives do businesses need to make the switch to reusables? For example, tax incentives, rebates, curbside reuse, etc.
  • How can we integrate certification standards into state policy and procurement?

     

     

5:00 Adjourn

2023 Presentations
Download available slide decks