Promoting Safer Alternatives
Safer, cleaner, materials and products.
Healthier workplaces and communities.
Continual innovation for a more sound economy.
For the vital transition to such a world, we need to focus on options that move us away from unhealthy materials and practices and toward the creation and use of more viable options. That is, toward safer alternatives.
Alternatives assessment: a process of identifying and comparing chemicals, materials, products, processes, or practices to identify potentially safer alternatives.
Safer alternatives are not only healthier for humans and the environment. They also must meet criteria for technical performance, economic feasibility, and social justice. The option of not undertaking an activity could also be a potential alternative.
Safer alternatives to using a hazardous chemical could include:
- Replacing the chemical with an inherently less hazardous chemical.
- Eliminating the need for the chemical by changing the material of construction, re-designing the product, or replacing the product.
- Eliminating the chemical by altering the functional demands for the product. This could be through changes in consumer demand, workplace organization, or product use.
The Lowell Center Alternatives Assessment Framework
The Lowell Center for Sustainable Production and its sister organization the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) have pioneered in the development and use of a framework and methodologies for conducting alternatives assessments.
In response to the growing need for trusted and consistent methodologies to perform alternatives assessments, we published the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production Alternatives Assessment Framework in 2006. Since then, we and other organizations have used this evolving framework in performing a number of alternatives assessments.
It is essential that we and others continue to communicate and collaborate in the creation, testing, and analysis of robust yet practical strategies for evaluating and identifying safer chemicals, materials, products, and practices. We invite you to learn more about our experience and capacities in performing alternatives assessments.
Benefits of Alternatives Assessment
Seeking safer options spurs the creation of safer solutions. It offers several direct benefits to society such as:
A focus on solutions rather than problems. Alternatives assessment reorients environmental protection strategies from defending against existing problems to finding solutions that eliminate problems at the source.
Stimulation of innovation and prevention. Alternatives assessment processes can lead to innovation and produce substantial cost savings for firms and possibly job creation as well as health and environmental benefits for workers, consumers, and communities.
Reduction of multiple risks at the same time. By focusing on needs and functions, alternative assessment offers a broader range of possibilities for eliminating the sources of problems and stimulating the development of improved practices and materials.
Improved product design and working conditions. Applying alternative assessment techniques to the design of products and work practices means that materials and practices are reviewed for potential hazards. These potential hazards are thereby avoided and safer alternatives can be developed.
