Environmental risk assessment for relevant ingredients in adhesives and sealants in commonplace industrial uses
Authors: Wind Thorsten , Diaz Paula , Funk Torsten , Gbenouvo Elodie , Seger Erich , Tolls Johannes 
Published: December 2021

The Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals requires that the risks from the exposure to substances be controlled throughout the life cycle. This includes that conditions of safe use are established via risk assessments, documented and communicated to the downstream users of chemicals. This also applies to the environmental risks originating from downstream uses of chemicals, for instance, those from the industrial uses of adhesives and sealants. Upon application, these products form solid matrices with low emissions to the environment during the application. Hence, it is expected that environmental exposure is low, provided that good industrial practice is followed. To explore this, an environmental risk assessment for industrial uses of adhesives and sealants is performed for the environmentally most hazardous ingredients. These include several solvents, organotin catalysts, fillers, reactive resins, a pigment, and a preservative. Specific environmental release categories (SPERCs) developed by the Association of European Adhesives and Sealants Industries (FEICA) are used to derive emission estimates. In combination with multimedia fate modeling, the environmental risk in water, sediment, soil, and a sewage treatment plant is investigated. The assessment results indicate no environmental risk for any of the ingredients. The discussion evaluates the conservative nature of the assumed values of the use rates, the release factors, the fate modeling, and assessment factors. It concludes that their combination results in a sufficient degree of conservatism. In view of the conservative nature of the assessment and given that the worst-case ingredients of adhesives and sealants are sufficiently controlled under the generically defined use conditions, it is concluded that the SPERCs used represent safe conditions for use, irrespective of the ingredient substances of adhesives and sealants. The essential SPERC information elements are identified for the purpose of communicating the conditions of safe use. The consolidation of this information in safety data sheets for adhesives and sealants is discussed. Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:1288–1296. © 2021 FEICA aisbl. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

KEY POINTS

A selection of environmentally most dangerous ingredients of adhesive and sealants is shown to be safe in industrial uses through an environmental risk assessment. The FEICA SPERCs, which underlie the assessment, are generically defined with a broad and realistic applicability domain and represent safe conditions of use. Since the assessment covers the worst case ingredients, and is conservative, industrial uses of adhesives and sealants can be considered safe for the environment in general, irrespective of the ingredient substances. Communicating the environmental conditions of safe use for industrial uses of adhesives and sealants can focus on the essential SPERC information elements, which may be consolidated into the safety data sheets.