Greener Chemicals Award: Greenlist by S.C. Johnson ranks raw materials

Green Chemistry Award by EPA - 2006

Greenlist(TM) process, a system that rates the environmental footprint of the ingredients in its products. Through Greenlist, SCJ chemists and product formulators around the globe have instant access to environmental ratings of potential product ingredients.

Starting in 2001, SCJ developed Greenlist according to the rigorous standards of scientific best practices. Greenlist uses four to seven specific criteria to rate ingredients within 17 functional categories.

SCJ enlisted the help of suppliers, university scientists, government agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure that the rating criteria were meaningful, objective, and valid. These criteria include vapor pressure, octanol/water coefficient, biodegradability, aquatic toxicity, human toxicity, European Union Classification, source/supply, and others, as appropriate. The Greenlist process assigns an environmental classification (EC) score to each ingredient by averaging its scores for the criteria in its category. EC scores range from Best (3) to Restricted Use Material (0).

SCJ lowers the EC score for chemicals with other significant concerns including PBT (persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity), endocrine disruption, carcinogenicity, and reproductive toxicity.

Today, Greenlist provides ratings for more than 90 percent of the raw materials SCJ uses, including solvents, surfactants, inorganic acids and bases, chelants, propellants, preservatives, insecticides, fragrances, waxes, resins, nonwoven fabrics, and packaging.

Company scientists have also developed criteria for dyes, colorants, and thickeners and are working on additional categories as well.

In recent years, SCJ has used Greenlist to reformulate multiple products to make them safer and more environmentally responsible. In one example, SCJ used Greenlist to replace polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) with polyethylene in Saran Wrap(R). In another example, SCJ used Greenlist to remove a particular volatile organic compound (VOC) from Windex(R). They developed a novel new formula containing amphoteric and anionic surfactants, a solvent system with fewer than 4 percent VOCs, and a polymer for superior wetting. Their formula cleans 30 percent better and eliminates over 1.8 million pounds of VOCs per year.

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