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Green Chemistry Program at EPA
The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 established a national policy to prevent or reduce pollution at its source whenever feasible, and provided an opportunity to expand beyond traditional EPA programs and devise creative strategies to protect human health and the environment. Green chemistry is the use of chemistry for pollution prevention. More specifically, green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
On this page:
More Information:
- EPA Projects and Programs promoting green chemistry
History
Shortly after the passage of the Pollution Prevention Act
of 1990, the Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) explored the
idea of developing new or improving existing chemical products
and processes to make them less hazardous to human health
and the environment. In 1991, OPPT launched a model
research grants program called "Alternative Synthetic
Pathways for Pollution Prevention
." This program
provided unprecedented grants for research projects that include
pollution prevention in the design and synthesis of chemicals.
In 1993, the program was expanded to include other topics, such as greener solvents and safer chemicals, and was renamed "Green Chemistry." Since then, the Green Chemistry Program has built many collaborations
with academia, industry, other government agencies, and non-government
organizations to promote the use of chemistry for pollution
prevention through completely voluntary, non-regulatory partnerships.
Read more about EPA Projects and Programs promoting green chemistry.
Goals
EPA promotes the research, development, and implementation of innovative chemical technologies that accomplish pollution prevention in a scientifically sound and cost-effective manner. To accomplish these goals, the Green Chemistry Program recognizes and supports chemical technologies that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances during the design, manufacture, and use of chemical products and processes. More specifically, the Green Chemistry Program supports fundamental research in the area of environmentally benign chemistry as well as a variety of educational activities, international activities, conferences and meetings, and tool development, all through voluntary partnerships with academia, industry, other government agencies, and non-government organizations.
Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge
In 1995, OPPT launched the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge, a voluntary partnership to support further green chemistry research and recognize outstanding examples of green chemistry. The awards highlight successes in research, development, and industrial implementation of technologies that prevent pollution at the source while contributing to the competitiveness of the innovators. Nominations for awards are judged for how well they meet the selection criteria: novelty, environmental and human health benefits, and impact or applicability in industry.
Past awards provide a rich source of examples of how proactive design of chemical products and processes benefit the triple bottom line and move our society towards sustainability.
Partnerships
EPA's Green Chemistry Program works with many partners to promote pollution prevention through green chemistry. Partnering organizations represent academia, industry, other government agencies, scientific societies, trade organizations, national laboratories, and research centers. Specific partners of EPA's Green Chemistry Program are listed below.
Links in this
section are outside EPA's Web space.
To return to this page, use the "BACK" button on your browser.Scientific Organizations
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Council for Chemical Research (CCR)
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
- National Research Council (NRC)
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
Industry
- The BF Goodrich Company
- The Dow Chemical Company
- Dow Corning Corporation
- E.I. DuPont de Nemours
- Eastman Kodak Company
- Monsanto
- Polaroid Corporation
- Rochester Midland Corporation
- Solutia
Trade Associations
- American Chemistry Council
- American Petroleum Institute (API)
- Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI)
Academia
- Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale
- The University of Alabama
- University of Massachusetts Lowell
- University of Oregon
- University of Scranton
Education Centers
- Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan
- Chemical Education Foundation
- Partnership for Environmental Technology Education
Research Centers
- Center for Process Analytical Chemistry (CPAC) at the University of Washington
- Emission Reduction Research Center (ERRC) at the New Jersey Institute of Technology
- National Environmental Technology Institute (NETI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell
Government
- Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
National Laboratories
Environmental Groups
International Organizations
- Canadian Green Chemistry Network (CGCN) (Canada)
- Centre for Green Chemistry (Australia)
- Crystal Faraday (Great Britain)
- Green & Sustainable Chemistry Network (GSCN) (English)
(Japan)
- Green & Sustainable Chemistry Network (GSCN) (Japanese) (Japan)
- International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC)
Interuniversity Consortium: Chemistry for the Environment (Italy) - Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD)
- Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI)
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (Great Britain)
Journals
Other Information Sources