LIFE

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LIFE ENVIRONMENT | LIFE and the circular economy in their products. This has gained in relevance in recent years, as the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation (EC 1907/2006) is restricting or banning an increasing number of chemicals (“substances of very high concern”), where suitable alternatives have been identified. Facilitating the substitution of chemicals of concern at the production stage is one of the actions noted in the Circular Economy Action Plan to help SMEs exploit business opportunities arising from increased resource use efficiency during the transition to a circular economy. Maintaining or improving the quality of recycled materials facilitates upcycling, and growth in the reuse and recycling sectors. LIFE READ is developing effective methods for communicating safety information about hazardous products Photo: LIFE12 ENV/GR/001135 In order to provide companies with information on substituting hazardous substances with safer alternatives, the SUBSPORT project (LIFE08 ENV/D/000027) developed an innovative ‘substitution support’ web portal (www.subsport.eu), containing hundreds of case studies, as well as lists of restricted and priority substances, links to tools that can help facilitate substitution and training materials. It continues to be updated. More recently, LIFE Fit for REACH (LIFE14 ENV/LV/000174) has produced a management package to help SMEs find alternatives to restricted substances (see box, p. 29). The processing of fruit generates a significant amount of waste with little commercial value. This has some use as animal feed, but much is underutilised and discarded. LIFECITRUS (LIFE14 ENV/ES/000326) is demonstrating an innovative industrial process for obtaining natural food ingredients from citrus fruit discards. This waste can be treated and transformed to recover hesperidin, essential oils, sugars and a gelling agent for the food industry. The new process, installed in the project beneficiary’s processing plant in Murcia (Spain), is expected to reduce waste by 80% (by mass and volume). The project is also organising training courses on the technology for agro-food industries technicians, and assessing the suitability of the process for other fruit and vegetable residues. Chemical substitution A significant barrier to closing material loops is the presence of hazardous or problematic substances that cannot be reused or recycled. A cluster of LIFE projects has addressed this issue, by helping companies to identify alternative chemicals for use More effective methods for communicating safety information about hazardous products are essential. This is why the LIFE READ project (LIFE12 ENV/GR/001135) developed a public database to generate Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) and workplace instruction cards for detergents. The outcome is improved safety information on products used in the tourism and construction industries in Greece, which covers the entire supply chain from manufacturers and importers, producers and wholesale distributors, to professional end users. The information provided includes whether the product contains any hazardous environmental pollutants, its carbon footprint, and if it has any environmental certification (e.g. EU Ecolabel). Products of petrochemical origin, and in particular chlorinated compounds, have been widely used in the leather defatting process. They are preferred mainly because of their chemical stability, low cost and good performance. Yet, there are increasing concerns over their high chlorine content and low biodegradability potential. LIFE ECODEFATTING (LIFE13 ENV/IT/000470) is replacing hazardous 28
LIFE ENVIRONMENT | LIFE and the circular economy chemical products with more environmentallyfriendly products in the degreasing phase of the leather tanning cycle. It will specifically eliminate defatting agents which contain chlorinated molecules, and replace them with natural products that penetrate better the leather, so enhancing performance. This will reduce wastewater pollution, and enable leather manufacturers to contribute to production of products bearing the EU Ecolabel. The BIOPOL project (LIFE15 ENV/IT/000654) is also improving the environmental performance of the leather tanning sector, by demonstrating an innovative process for producing new biopolymers from the waste biomass generated by the tanning process and by agro-food industries. Substituting conventional chemical agents used in the tanning process with these ‘green chemicals’ reduces hazardous substance use by 70-90%. production Making LIFE Fit for REACH The LIFE Fit for REACH project is offering SMEs a full ‘chemicals management package’ to help them find substitutes for hazardous substances. This includes capacity building in line with the CLP regulation (Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures) and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) guidelines, information on chemical inventories and general management practices, guidance on how to follow legal obligations on specific substances, and proposals on how to implement substitution as a core action to reduce environmental impacts. Tools are being developed for SMEs in Baltic countries to help them identify potential candidate chemicals for substitution, build in-house chemical inventories, and give guidance on initiating substitution processes. “Data shows that there are alternatives for most of the restricted hazardous substances, even if they are not numerous,” says project manager Valters Toropovs. Although alternatives can be found, he explains, in most cases some degree of change in the formulation and/or technological processes will be necessary. “The project involves six industrial companies as direct partner with complex substitution cases. They receive individual consultations from experts, small investments - for example, in substitution technology - and will find out during the project if and how the concrete substitution succeeds,” explains Mr Toropovs. SMEs with smaller substitution cases will also receive consultations and, potentially, small investments as an incentive to substitute. “Introducing alternatives and substitution processes might seem costly and resource-consuming, but in the longer term they are often cost-efficient, especially when talking about replacing substances that face legal restrictions,” says Mr Toropovs. “We plan to pro-actively promote replication by publishing successful cases, by media involvement, information days and direct contact with other enterprises.” Photo: Rita Norvaišaite 29
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LIFE

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