Design for the Environment 

Partnership Highlights 

DfE Partnerships Drive Innovation and Risk Reduction 

The Design for the Environment (DfE) Program works in partnership with a broad range of 

stakeholders to reduce risk to people and the environment by preventing pollution. DfE focuses on industries that combine the potential for chemical risk reduction with a strong motivation 

to make lasting, positive changes. DfE convenes partners, including industry representatives and 

environmental groups, to develop goals and guide the work of the partnership. Partnerships evaluate 

the human health and environmental considerations, performance, and cost of traditional and alternative technologies, materials, and processes. As incentives for participation and driving change, 

DfE offers unique technical tools, methodologies, and expertise. 

EPA’s DfE program has reached more than 200,000 business facilities and approximately 2 million 

workers, reducing the use of chemicals of concern by approximately 237 million pounds per year. 

This pamphlet highlights DfE’s recent partnerships and their common goals of risk reduction. 

www.epa.gov/DfE 

March 2006 
Helping Industry Consider Environmental Outcomes 

Safer Electronics 

Lead-Free Solder Partnership 

The work of DfE’s Lead-Free Solder Partnership will 

help industry to focus on products and processes that 

reduce solders’ environmental impacts, including releases of toxic chemicals and reductions of potential 

risks. With annual worldwide tin/lead solder use at 

about 180 million pounds, the transition to lead-free 

solders presents a significant opportunity for risk reduction. 

The electronics 

industry approached EPA as 

it prepared for 

compliance with 

the European Union (EU) Directive to phase out 

lead in electronics. Completed in 

2005, the partnership’s Life-Cycle Assessment focused on the environmental impacts of tin/lead solder and leading candidate lead-free solders. It also identified areas for 

further research including: developing more energyefficient solder application equipment; resolving the 

variability of the available silver production inventory data to better understand the impacts of silver 

mining and processing; and the leachability of tin/ 

lead alternatives. 

Wire & Cable Partnership 

Results of the DfE 

and Massachusetts 

Toxics Use Reduction Institute Wire & 

Cable Partnership’s 

study will help companies make environmentally sound product and material 

choices, and will 

identify relative contributions of various processes and substances to the 

overall environmental and health impacts of the products. 

Formed to evaluate the impacts of standard and alternative wire and cable formulations, the partnership is 

using a life-cycle assessment approach to assess heat 

stabilizers, flame retardants, and polymer systems 

used in wire and cable insulation and jacketing. 

Safer Flame Retardants 

Furniture Partnership 

DfE’s Furniture Flame 

Retardancy Partnership 

is helping industry factor environmental and 

human health considerations into their decisionmaking as they choose 

chemical flame retardants for fire safe furniture foam. 

The partnership was 

formed as the result of 

stakeholder concerns about worldwide occurrence of 

pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE) in the environment and human tissues. PentaBDE was the primary 

flame retardant used in the manufacture of lowdensity, flexible polyurethane foam for furniture, with 

production volumes of approximately 19 million 

pounds per year. When industry agreed to voluntarily 

phase out pentaBDE, the partnership’s work took on a 

new urgency. 

This broad, multi-stakeholder partnership was formed 

to develop and disseminate information on alternative 

technologies for achieving furniture fire safety standard, and completed its report in September 2005. 

Printed Circuit Board Partnership 

The purpose of the Printed Circuit Board Flame Retardancy Partnership is to better understand the environmental health and safety aspects of commercially 

available flame retardants that can be used to meet fire 

safety requirements for the majority of printed circuit 

boards. 

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is the largestvolume brominated flame retardant with an annual production of approximately 330 million pounds, and is 

the primary flame retardant for printed circuit boards. 

Alternative flame retardant materials, developed in response to concerns over the use of some brominated 

flame retardants, are becoming available for use in 

printed circuit boards. 

The partnership plans to conduct an alternatives assessment to focus on environmental and human health considerations, building on the groundbreaking methodology of the Furniture Partnership. The results, along 

with cost and performance information, will be used by 

the electronics industry in selecting flame retardants 

for printed circuit boards. 
Safer Formulations

Formulator Partnership 

DfE’s Formulator Program encourages partners 

to reformulate products to 

be environmentally safer, 

cost competitive, and effective. By providing 

chemical and toxicological information and suggesting safer substitutes, 

the Formulator Program reduced an estimated 40 million pounds of chemicals of concern in 2005. 

Industrial/Institutional Cleaning Partnership 

Formulator Partnerships have become respected and 

sought-after in the Industrial & Institutional Cleaning 

sector. The number of companies submitting products 

for review has more than doubled, as has the number of 

newly recognized products. Many of the industry’s 

major players are already or are in the process of becoming DfE partners. 

At the industry’s international trade show, DfE owned 

the buzz in green cleaning products, with many eager 

to learn more. Purchasing entities from Oregon, Washington, and Vermont now include DfE recognition in 

their specifications for eco-friendly products. 

Consumer Products Partnership 

DfE is now working with the consumer cleaning products sector. Large chemical volumes are used in this 

sector, with the potential for substantial population exposures. In many instances significant reformulation 

benefits exist. 

The first major partner in this sector, SC Johnson (SCJ), 

shares DfE’s methodology and vision for greening products by assessing all ingredients and focusing on key concerns to achieve continuous improvement. To date, DfE 

has recognized SCJ’s Scrubbing Bubbles and several 

other innovative products. DfE has also partnered with 

Wal-Mart’s Chemical-Intensive Product Network to develop sustainability scorecards for suppliers and manufacturers. 

Best Practices & Technologies 

DfE demonstrated in its partnership with the automotive 

refinishing industry that developing best practices helps 

small businesses reduce emissions of toxic chemicals. 

Building on this successful approach, DfE is now working collaboratively with EPA’s Office of Air Quality 

Planning and Standards and Regions to craft a flexible 

pollution prevention provision of an area source regulation. 

Area Sources 

Individually, area sources are considered small emitters, 

but cumulatively they present opportunities for significant emission reductions through best practices and other 

pollution prevention solutions. Implementation of best 

practices on a national level in 50,000 auto body shops 

would reduce releases of toxic pollutants by over 110 

million pounds per year, saving auto body shops up to 

$650 million through reduced paint costs. 

Many area sources are located near residences and 

schools. Emissions of concern from these facilities include diisocyanates (the leading cause of occupational 

asthma), heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds. 

Polyurethane Foam 

To realize additional public health benefits, DfE is exploring partnerships with other industry sectors, such as 

polyurethane foam manufacturers. DfE will help identify innovative methods to reduce emissions of air toxics, 

including diisocyanates. Diisocyanates have been linked 

to a high incidence of asthma in children living near a 

foam facility. 

Detergent Ingredients Partnership 

DfE has partnered with the GreenBlue Institute to develop a tool for easy, reliable identification of ingredients with 

optimal performance and environmental characteristics. Now with its first chemical class, surfactants, CleangredientsTM provides an ideal venue for manufacturers to showcase safer chemicals, for companies to find ingredients 

with desired attributes, and for others to learn about green ingredients and their availability in the marketplace. 

CleangredientsTM was developed by a multi-stakeholder advisory committee and will eventually be expanded to 

cover chemicals in other ingredient classes. 

Air Toxics in the Community 

Automotive Refinishing Partnership 
Through SDSI, DfE will recognize companies, facilities, and others 

who voluntarily phase out or commit to phase out the manufacture or 

use of nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) surfactants. Both NPEs and their 

breakdown products, such as nonylphenol (NP), can harm aquatic life. 

NP is both an intermediate in the manufacture of NPE surfactants and 

an ultimate degradation product. NPE surfactants are used in many 

sectors, including cleaning and industrial processes. DfE has identified safer alternatives to NPEs through its 

partnership work with industry and environmental advocates. These safer alternative surfactants are comparable 

in cost and are readily available. 

SDSI will encourage the manufacture and use of safer surfactants, which will reduce the level of NPE surfactants 

and NP in streams. This initiative will help implement the Aquatic Life Criteria for NP published in the Federal 

Register in February 2006. The criteria were designed to protect aquatic life in both fresh and saltwater, providing the basis for state and tribal water quality standards. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency 

www.epa.gov/dfe 

Safer Detergents Stewardship Initiative (SDSI) 

Recognition for Environmental Leadership 

From Our Partners... 

“We are delighted to continue to partner with the EPA. Design for the 

 Environment supports SC Johnson’s commitment to put the environment 

and human health at the center of product development and formulation. 

Companies can and should continue to look closely at making investments 

that are about doing what’s right for the business and the environment.” 

-SC Johnson Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson