Design for the Environment

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Design for the Environment
Improving Health Environmental Decision Making
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What Design for the Environment (DfE) Does

• Partner with industry to assess, design, and
  adopt products, processes, and management systems
  that are
• Cleaner
• Cost-effective
• Safer
• Since 1990, partnered with
  14 sectors
• Affecting more than 140,000 companies
  and 2 million workers nationwide

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DfE Spurs Risk Reduction Environmental
Improvement

• By providing critical toxicity, exposure, and
  risk information,

• DfE guides private sector innovation
• DfE helps companies better understand and manage
  their chemicals

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Why was DfE Created?

• Regulations are essential but limited to clear
  cut risks
• Regulations partition problems and can often
  promote avoidance rather than best practices
• Public demand for participation, information

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Why was DfE Created?

• Sector-based approach rather
  than traditional chemical-by-chemica
  l approach
• Encourage pollution prevention, risk reduction,
  and continuous environmental improvement

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DfE Sectors

• Adhesives
• Auto refinishing
• Auto supply chain
• Electronics

• Dry cleaning
• Industrial laundry detergents
• Marinas
• Printing

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DfE Approaches

• Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment
• Formulation Improvement
• Best Practices

• Life-Cycle Assessment
• Greening the Supply Chain
• Integrated Environmental Management Systems

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Partnership Criteria

• Important, unresolved environmental or human
  health risk
• DfE approaches are applicable
• Interested, strong
  partners
• Commitment to measure
  results

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DfE Achieves Environmental Improvement

• Screen printing
• Half of the screen printers interviewed switched
  to a cleaner reclamation product and several
  supplier indicated the project affected their RD
  strategy
• Printed wiring boards
• From 1995 to 1997, the percent of manufacturers
  using cleaner making holes conductive
  technologies doubled, from 15 to 30
• Each year, this saves 400 million gallons of
  water and 15 billion BTUs of energy, and reduces
  use of formaldehyde by 240,000 lbs

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DfE Achieves Environmental Improvement

• Auto-Refinishing
• Increased use of more efficient spray guns and
  control technology
• Material cost savings of 29 on average
  (4,000/shop/yr) offsets capital costs
• Lower diisocyanate exposure to workers and
  neighboring community
• Reduced VOC emissions of 31 (281 lbs/yr/shop)

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DfE Achieves Environmental Improvement

• Dry cleaning
• Use of perchloroethylene dropped 37 from
  1997 through 2001
• Adhesives in foam furniture
• Use of methylene chloride dropped 83 from
  1997 through 2001

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DfE Achieves Environmental Improvement

• Integrated EMS
• Increased chemical risk management focus in EMSs
• Increased use of cleaner technologies, improved
  compliance, increased resource efficiencies,
  reduced waste, increased recycling, and improved
  worker safety

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DfE Achieves Environmental Improvement

• Industrial Institutional Laundry
• Formulators learn to ask their suppliers key EHS
  questions on chemicals
• 14 new eco-friendly detergents have entered the
  market. Annual benefits from just one of these
  include
• 100 million gallons of water saved along with
  the energy to heat it
• 340,000 gallons of toxic chemicals eliminated
  from use

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• It has been encouraging to see how much a
  cooperative spirit can accomplish.
• Leif Anderson, Vice-President,
• Anderson Chemical Company

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For More Information

• Visit our website at www.epa.gov/dfe or call us
  at 202-564-8780.
• Order publications through the Pollution
  Prevention Information Clearinghouse
• Email ppic_at_epa.gov
• Telephone [phone]