Green Chemistry Concepts in Personal Care and Cosmetics

Posted: February 14, 2008

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Envirogluv is a glass decorating technology that directly silk-screens radiation-curable inks onto glass, then cures the ink almost instantly by exposure to UV light. The result is a crisp, clean label that is environmentally sound, with a unit cost that is about half of that incurred with traditional labeling.

Envirogluv inks have no VOCs and no toxic heavy metals. These organic-based UV-curable inks were initially developed for Revlon and first used in the early 1990s for high speed printing and filling of nail enamel bottles and hot stamping of environmentally acceptable foils to emulate the look of raised silver and gold. Since then the process has produced hundreds of millions of units. Revlon reportedly saved millions of dollars over the years through energy, space and labor efficiencies as compared to its traditional heat-cured glass-decorating process. Today Envirogluv is used primarily in the food and beverage industry.

Comment
The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards Program invites nominations that describe the technical benefits of a green chemistry technology as well as human health and environmental benefits. The Awards Program is open to all individuals, groups, and organizations, both nonprofit and for profit, including academia, government and industry. Self-nominations are allowed and expected. Entry details are at the EPA’s Web site.² Nominations are due December 31 each year for an awards ceremony normally held in late June the following year in Washington, D.C.

There is no financial component in a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award, but it does provide national recognition of outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture and use, and that have been or can be used by industry in achieving their pollution prevention goals. On the other hand, it may be that the word green appears in the name of this presidential award because national recognition is very flattering, and it leaves those who didn’t win feeling slightly green with envy.

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