Green Chemistry Initiative Down But Not Out

As it has on many occasions, California is poised to lead the nation in environmental regulation by enacting sweeping regulations to implement its Green Chemistry Initiative. The initiative is expected to have far-reaching implications for manufacturers and retailers of consumer products directly affected by the bill, and it is being touted by proponents for its anticipated impacts on economic growth, competition, technology and innovation, and higher education.

Enacted in September 2008 through two companion bills, Assembly Bill 1879 (titled the “Safer Consumer Product Alternatives”) and Senate Bill 509, the Green Chemistry Initiative is a new regulatory approach to pollution prevention that ultimately requires the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Among its many provisions, the initiative required the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the lead implementing agency, to adopt regulations on or before Jan. 1, that establish a process for identifying and evaluating “chemicals of concern in consumer products and their potential alternatives.”