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We have ambitious plans for the coming year, including launching the GC3 Innovation and GC3 Education Portals; initiating at least one collaborative project of the Retailer Leadership Council; moving forward with the GC3 Collaborative Innovation Project on Preservatives in Personal Care Products; presenting the GC3 Mainstreaming Green Chemistry Agenda, and publishing several GC3 reports on innovation and the business case for green chemistry. And, of course, we will host the 10th annual GC3 Innovators Roundtable in April at Nike World Headquarters. Joel Tickner, ScD, GC3 Director
As part of the GC3 Mainstreaming Green Chemistry Agenda, we would like to highlight some of the activites our members are undertaking to advance green chemistry. Please use this link by January 5 to answer a few short questions about what you are working on now to move green chemistry forward, how this product or practice improves upon the way you were doing things before, and any benefits to your organization that you can quantify or qualify. These activities might include a new product or process, new ways to communicate about safer chemistry within your supply chain or within your company, employee training, etc. GC3 members from any sector are encouraged to respond. We will be finding ways to share these kinds of updates beyond the mainstreaming Agenda. If you prefer to send a brief description instead, please send it to Amy Perlmutter.
RETAILThe RLC continues to meets on a monthly basis via conference call to share ideas and discuss different approaches retailers are using for sourcing and selling safer products. The group is continuing the dialogue it began with chemical manufacturers in May and continued in October 2014. In December, RLC members met with chemical manufacturers via conference call to discuss the following question: How do you measure and assess potential brand, retailer and consumer demand and how does this information play into R&D and commercialization decisions? Where are the points of interaction? A webinar is scheduled for February 4 at 12:00 P.M. EST that will be of particular interest to retailers entitled “Training and Incentivizing Merchants to purchase sustainable products.” Jason Pearson, Executive Director of the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council; Larry Garcia, Senior Environmental Analyst, Seattle City Light and Rob Kaplan, Sustainability Director at Walmart, are featured presenters. Register now! For further information about the Retailer Leadership Council, please contact Sally Edwards at sally_edwards@uml.edu.
EDUCATIONLast week, the GC3 Education Project Group hosted a webinar on marketing green chemistry featuring Steve Davies, Director of Public Affairs & Communications at NatureWorks, Saskia van Gendt, Captain Planet at Method and Charlie Forslund, Principal, Material Innovation Exploration at Steelcase. They provided ideas on building market share, innovation and design, green credentials, working with suppliers. We encourage you to watch this webinar if you were not able to participate. The slides are online and webinar will be posted shortly.
MAINSTREAMINGThe mainstreaming Advisory Committee met via web in December to discuss the development of the document: An Agenda for Mainstreaming Green Chemistry. Among the issues discussed were the possible ways to make the report a living document; some of the key arguments for why mainstreaming is important as well as barriers to mainstreaming; and how and why to map the system of idea to innovation.
INNOVATIONFor the GC3 collaborative innovation project on preservatives in personal care products, we have set our first call for brands in mid-January. On the call we will discuss project goals, the draft project prospectus, and decide on next steps for the group. We continue to have one-on-one conversations with a number of personal care brands to learn about their challenges related to preservatives, to gauge their interest in participating in a collaborative project to accelerate innovation toward new commercial preservatives, and to discuss specific tasks that could be the focus of such a collaboration. We were very pleased to learn that the GC3 Innovation Portal was selected as a finalist for the LAUNCH Green Chemistry Challenge competition. Monica Becker and Joel Tickner will travel to the LAUNCH Forum -- at NASA’s Kennedy Space Station -- in late January. While there Monica will deliver a pitch for the Portal, record a video about the initiative, and participate in a meeting with leaders in the green chemistry community (“The Council”) to get guidance and build partnerships to accelerate the initiative. Joel will be participating as a member of the Council. We are working hard to prepare for the Forum and will strive to get the most out of the meeting and the six month post-Forum period when the LAUNCH program will help us strengthen our strategy, expand our network and resources, and amplify the impact of our work. Read more about the LAUNCH process. If you would like more information on these projects, please email Monica Becker.
New Tool Launched Today Measures Corporate Progress Towards Safer Chemicals Tool Helps Manufacturers Use Safer Chemicals Using REACH to business advantage 'Godfather of greening' writes game plan for big-time sports New Report Makes Strong Business Case for Using Safer Chemicals in Products and Supply Chains Safer Product Labeling Program Partner of the Year Awards EPA to Expand Listing on the DfE Safer Chemical Ingredients List
UPCOMING WEBINARSTuesday, January 6, 2015 Presenter: DON REED, Managing Director, PwC Sustainable Business Solutions
Wednesday, February 6, 2015 Presenters: UPCOMING GC3 EVENTS
10th ANNUAL GC3 INNOVATORS ROUNDTABLE Plan to attend this dynamic conference where over 150 sustainability leaders from a range of industry sectors, government, non-government organizations and universities will convene to share challenges and best practices and work on collaborative projects to advance green chemistry practices in industry. The 10th Annual GC3 Innovators Roundtable will be hosted by NIKE in Beaverton, OR.
RELATED EVENTS OF INTEREST
Green Chemistry & Chemical Stewardship Certificate Next Generation Bio-Based & Sustainable Chemicals Summit Midwest Bioeconomy & Safer Products Summit
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