MACRAMÉ colleagues from AcumenIST and University of Birmingham have contributed to a publication that provides insights into the technical and organisational challenges to the practical implementation of the SSbD, and future financial directions in supporting and maintaining the digital products currently under development within the H2020 projects. The article ‘Status, implications and challenges of European safe and sustainable by design paradigms applicable to nanomaterials and advanced materials’ is inspired from the answers and opinions shared during a stakeholders meeting arranged throughout the workshop entitled ‘Safe and Sustainable by Design Paradigms applied to NMs and AdMa’, held in Venice, Italy, in September 2022. The goal of the workshop was to identify differences and overlaps between the SSbD approaches and to provide common messages on the progress towards the implementation of concrete SSbD concepts, and to reveal challenges faced in their realistic and straightforward execution.
Current European (EU) policies, such as the Green Deal, envisage safe and sustainable by design (SSbD) practices for the management of chemicals, which cogently entail nanomaterials (NMs) and advanced materials (AdMa). These practices, applied at the earliest stages of innovation and throughout the life-cycle of chemicals, materials and products, could prevent and/or minimise their environmental, health and safety (EHS) and sustainability impacts. The paper states that this requires a shift from the established risk control paradigms towards prevention-based approaches at the design stage that accelerate the development of safer and more sustainable chemicals, materials, products and processes, while promoting a transition towards a circular economy and a more sustainable future.
The EU commission has funded several Horizon 2020 projects applying the concepts of SSbD to nanotechnologies, biotechnologies and advanced materials. The paper highlights that various stakeholder events within Europe made evident that a well-defined and straightforward approach to account for sustainability aspects within the safety elements is missing, while criteria are still under development. However, the paper says, the horizon is visible and clear. In the next few years, a shift of the field focus from the conceptualisation of theoretical frameworks (as established from current EU collaborative efforts), towards the realistic implementation will appear and pragmatic instances addressing challenges in the EU strategy for sustainable materials will be revealed, combining state-of-the-art knowledge and methodologies with novel approaches. Ultimately, the projects will collectively equip stakeholders with indispensable tools to be integrated in a wider SSbD implementation roadmap, which will eventually provide resolutions of nanosafety debates between academia, regulators and industry.
Follow this link to read the full paper.
