State of Maine: Identifying safer flame retardants

Analysis of safer alternatives to brominated flame retardants

When searching for substitutes for hazardous chemicals, it is important to ensure the substitutes are less hazardous than the chemicals they will replace. Pure Strategies has conducted numerous studies for companies and the public sector that identify safer substitutes for high hazard substances.

For Maine‘s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Pure Strategies assessed the availability of safer alternatives to replace the use of decabromodiphenyl ether (deca) in plastic shipping pallets. Deca, one of the most common brominated flame retardants, is persistent and bioaccumulative in the environment, and the risks it poses to health can magnify through the food chain.

Exploring All the Possibilities

Pure Strategies looked at both safer alternative flame retardants and at alternative management strategies or products that could reduce fire risks and meet shipping requirements. We identified non-halogenated flame retardant substitutes and analyzed them using the Green Screen approach that includes the 15 hazard endpoints below. In addition, Pure Strategies evaluated whether flame retardants were needed in plastic pallets at all and whether non-flame retardant products could meet the same need. Our study found that management strategies alone could not meet fire protection needs, but that there are safer flame retardants firms can use to meet pallet flammability requirements.

Green Screen Hazard Endpoints