Businesses today face a variety of challenges—maintaining

high-quality goods and services at low cost, staying competitive in a global marketplace, and meeting consumer

preferences for more environmentally friendly products. To help

businesses meet these challenges, EPA is building on the design for

the environment concept pioneered by industry and encourages

businesses to incorporate environmental considerations into the

design and redesign of products and processes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s

(EPA’s) Design for the Environment (DfE)

Program is a voluntary partnership program that

works directly with industries to integrate health and

environmental considerations into their business decisions. A DfE partnership helps businesses design or

redesign products, processes, and management systems

that are cleaner, more cost-effective, and safer for workers and the public. The DfE Program usually works

with industry sectors to compare the human health and

environmental risks, performance, and costs associated

with existing and alternative technologies or processes.

A DfE solution may entail the redesign of a formulation, a manufacturing or service-sector process, or a

management practice.

2 Printed on paper that contains at least 30 percent postconsumer fiber.

How does a business

“design for the environment

• By evaluating the human health and environmental

impacts of its processes and products.

• By identifying what information is needed to make

human health and environmental decisions.

• By conducting an assessment of alternatives.

• By considering cross-media impacts and the benefits

of substituting chemicals.

• By reducing the use and release of toxic chemicals

through the innovation of cleaner technologies that

use safer chemicals.

• By implementing pollution prevention, energy efficiency, and other resource conservation measures.

• By making products that can be reused, refurbished,

remanufactured, or recycled.

• By monitoring the environmental impacts and costs

associated with each product or process.

• By recognizing that although change can be rapid, in

many cases a cycle of evaluation and continuous

improvement is needed.

Partnerships for a Cleaner Future

Design for the

Environment Program

What is EPA’s

DfE Program?

Pollution prevention—the reduction or eliminati

of pollution at the source—is given preference t

recycling, treatment, or disposal.

Benefits include:

• Cost savings

• Reduced business and environmental risks

• Expanded business and market opportunities

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Publications and materials produced by each of

the industry partnerships are available on the DfE

Web site at www.epa.gov/dfe. Contact DfE at

202-260-1678, dfe@epa.gov, or:

Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. (7409)

Washington, DC 20460

Telephone: 202-260-1023

Fax: 202-260-0178

E-mail: ppic@epa.gov

or:

National Service Center for Environmental

Publications (NSCEP)

Telephone: 513-489-8190

800-490-9198

Office of Pollution

Prevention and Toxics

www.epa.gov/opptintr

www.epa.gov/dfe
There are six different approaches to designing for the

environment. To achieve its goals, a DfE partnership

may use one or more of the following approaches:

• Technology Assessments: A Cleaner Technologies

Substitutes Assessment (CTSA) offers a DfE partnership

a methodology to evaluate traditional and alternative

technologies for the potential risks they pose to human

health and the environment, as well as for performance

and cost. The CTSA provides detailed information so

that businesses can make their own decisions. In undertaking a CTSA approach, partners agree to identify the

component chemicals of alternative products and

processes, test, or summarize the performance of these

alternatives, and analyze their costs, as well as an analysis

of natural resources usage (water and energy use). The

DfE Program has completed several successful partnerships and is working with several other industries using a

CTSA approach. These industry partnerships include

commercial printing, garment and textile care, printed

wiring boards used in computers and other electronics,

and adhesives used in foam furniture and sleep

products. (See the DfE Web site for

the CTSA Methodology and Resource

Guide.)

• Formulator Approach: The DfE

Program is helping companies that

formulate chemicals or produce

formulated products, such as

detergents, for commercial use

etewos wta tade assocatoodecty wt

individual companies. DfE encourages participation by

recognizing companies that succeed in improving the

chemical profile of their products. The first DfE partners

to take this approach were formulators of industrial and

institutional laundry detergents. They are replacing conventional, hazardous ingredients with alternative ingredients (and byproducts) that are less toxic and more

biodegradable. Building on its success with detergent

formulations, DfE is entering into partnerships with the

formulators of industrial and institutional cleaning

products. 

• Best Practices Approach: This approach focuses on limiting exposures to toxic chemicals as much as possible

in the workplace and surrounding community. By

interacting with shops onsite, the DfE Program gains a

real-world perspective on the full range of practices and

equipment in an industry—from the hazardous to the

best available for ensuring safety and protecting

human health. With this perspective and a knowledge of chemical risks and protective measures,

DfE tests its strategy for promoting best shop

practices within a limited geographic

area. This strategy employs a

combination of techniques,

such as shop visits from safety

equipment suppliers, industrial hygienists, and experienced tradesmen, and

collaboration with trade

groups, schools, and raw materials suppliers and their networks.

A partnership with the auto refin

• Greening the Supply Chain: Manufacturers of complex

products, such as automobiles, appliances, ships, and aircraft, depend on a broad network of suppliers for parts

and assemblies. Many of the suppliers in these supply

chains (or tiers) are small- and medium-size companies.

By applying various approaches to manufacturing and

purchasing decisions throughout a network of suppliers,

DfE is promoting pollution prevention and the reduction of exposures and risks in these small facilities. A

pilot project is under way with the Saturn Corporation

to “green” its suppliers of automobile parts.

• Integrated Environmental Management Systems: The

DfE Program developed an Integrated Environmental

Management System (IEMS) that emphasizes reducing risk to the public and the environment, pollution

prevention, and wise resource management. DfE’s

IEMS Implementation Guide walks businesses through

the standard EMS components and also provides

“how to” insights and worksheets for process mapping, substitutes assessments, and risk evaluation.

Pilot projects with several screen printing companies

demonstrated that even a small company can develop

a sophisticated, action-oriented IEMS.

• Life-cycle Assessments: Life-cycle assessments (LCAs)

examine the environmental impacts of products over

their entire life-cycle, from materials acquisition to

manufacturing, use, and disposition. LCAs evaluate

impacts on human health, atmospheric resources/air

quality, water quality, ecological systems, and natural

resource consumption. In the DfE Computer Display

Project, project partners have used the LCA and

CTSA (technology assessment) methodologies to

evaluate the life-cycle environmental impacts, performance, and cost of liquid crystal displays (LCDs)

and cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). DfE expects that the

information generated will allow the electronics

industry to perform improvement assessments, which

will allow them to design products and processes that

reduce the release and use of toxic chemicals and risks

to human health and the environment.

DfE forms voluntary partnerships

with industry sectors, usually through

industry leaders and trade

or technical associations.

These partnerships also

can include public interest groups, universities, research

institutions, and other government agencies at the federal, state, and local level.

For each partnership, DfE ensures that information on

traditional and alternative technologies reaches the people who make the decisions—such as managers, engineers, purchasers, and end users. DfE provides these

decision makers with a variety of materials, such as

technical reports, fact sheets, bulletins, case studies, software, videos, and training manuals. These materials are

distributed throughout the industry so that companies

can make more informed decisions that reduce risks to

workers and the environment and even boost their bottom line. DfE’s Web site (www.epa.gov/dfe) keeps partners and other customers informed of new

developments.

How does a business start

designing for the environment?

Abusiness can initiate a DfE project on its own or

with the assistance of its industry trade or technical association. Associations can provide financial resources and share information, including

incentives to making changes and the recognition of

businesses that have overcome obstacles. If a particular

company believes that its industry can benefit from a

DfE project, it should bring this to the attention of an

appropriate association to see if broader industry interest

exist. Associations are encouraged to contact EPA’s DfE

Program for information on how to either propose a

partnership with EPA or initiate projects on their own.

Businesses also can design for the environment on their

own by using the models and templates developed by

the DfE Program.

EPA’s DfE Partnerships • Garment and textile care • Printed wiring boards used in computers and other electronics •

Commercial printing (screen printing, lithography, and flexography) • Industrial and institutional cleaning formulations • Auto refinishing •

Adhesives used in foam furniture and sleep products • Computer displays • Automobile suppliers