Enesta: Hello and welcome to Green Scene. I am Enesta Jones of the Office of Public Affairs.
Green Chemistry encourages innovation and promotes products that are both environmentally
and economically sustainable. To tell us more about green chemistry, the benefits, and how
you can get involved is Rich Engler of EPA's office of pollution prevention and toxics.
Welcome to the show, Rich.
Rich: Well it's a real pleasure to be here. Thank You.
Enesta: There is such variation on green chemistry what exactly is it in layman's terms?
Rich: Well, in a nutshell green chemistry is cleaner, cheaper, smarter chemistry. It's
pollution prevention at the molecular level. The design of environmentally preferable products
and processes can reduce waste, eliminate costly end of pipe treatments, lead to safer
products and save resources such as energy and water and these things benefit everybody.
They benefit the companies; they benefit workers, the general public, and the environment.
Enesta: And how does it differ from traditional methods to reduce pollution. Is it cheaper,
for instance?
Rich: Well, in traditional chemistry you would mix your ingredients together and isolate
your product but you might use a dangerous process, you might need hazardous waste or
the product you are making might actually be hazardous. And any time you have those
sorts of hazards you need to manage exposures to them. So for instance you might need local
protections or waste treatment. With Green Chemistry hazard is considered up front during
the design. You look to use less hazardous ingredients, make safer products, and make
a lot less waste. Of course that means it's a lot cheaper as well. You could make your
materials much more efficiently and save money on the back end without the end of pipe treatments.
Enesta: Lets talk about EPA's involvement. How does the agency promote and support green
chemistry?
Rich: Well, we have a number of activities that promote green chemistry. We do outreach.
We will go out and speak at scientific meetings, trade associations, at universities and companies.
We will also enter into partnerships with organizations such as the American Chemical
Society to develop education materials so that the next generation of chemists have
the tools that they need to develop, to be green chemists. We have also got recognition
and we have an awards program called the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards. And this
prestigious award is a voluntary partnership with a number of organizations. Other federal
agencies, industry, academia and scientific societies. And it's an opportunity to recognize
outstanding innovations that prevent pollution at the source. We receive nominations and
they are judged by a panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society.
And typically five awards are given to industry, to a small business and to an academic investigator.
Enesta: Are there any fruits of our labor, for instance are there results from our hard
work.
Rich: In fact there are, and the results are impressive. Through 2009, in the 14 years
of the challenge, all the award-winning technologies are preventing 193 million- the user generation
of 193 million pounds of hazardous substances. That's enough to fill 900 railroad tank cars
or a train 11 miles long. In addition award-winning technologies are saving 21 billion gallons
of water or enough for a city of 820,000 people. Also, there is 57 million pounds of CO2 emissions
being prevented. Which is roughly the equivalent of taking 6,000 cars off the road. And that
is on top of the tens of millions of dollars that the companies and their customers are
saving. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. All the nominated technologies when you add
up the benefits of all the nominated technologies its very much more.
Enesta: Well, that's impressive. And both beneficial for our environment and for people.
Rich, can you give us some examples of green chemistry in the lives of people like you
and I?
Rich: Sure, let's take paint. We are all familiar with that new paint smell when you go into
a room freshly painted room. That odor is the result of volatile organic compounds that
are added to the paint. There are paints right now on the market that have essentially no
volatile component. In 2005 we gave an award to a bio-based additive for water based latex
paints. These paints have better scrub resistance, better opacity, and essentially no odor. In
2009, this year, we are getting an award for a breakthrough for oil-based paints. Another
example is carpet tile. This is carpet that you might typically find in an office or a
commercial setting. We gave an award in 2003 to a carpet tile that's made from less hazardous
substances and it completely recyclable. This is also commercially available right now.
There are just two of the many many examples that we have on our website.
Enesta: Thank you for being here today Rich.
Rich: It's been real pleasure, thank you very much.
Enesta: For more information on the 2009 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award winners and
EPA's green chemistry program visit www.epa.gov/greenchemistry. See you next time on green scene.