ESIG Events
Third Stakeholder Day
“Solvents and the Green Deal – the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability”
19th January 2023
Don’t miss our Third Stakeholder Day!
We are re-launching the Stakeholder Day in its usual format with a European Commission representative sharing the latest updates on selected topics of relevance within this year’s theme on the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, such as:
- Changes to CLP
- Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) vs Substance of Concern (SoC)
- Restriction Roadmap & Generic Risk Assessment (GRA)
- More than One Constituent Substances (MOCs)
- One Substance One Assessment (OSOA)
- Safe Use Communication
- Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD)
After we showcase what ESIG has been or is doing, a panel discussion with several solvent downstream users will dive into dedicated aspects and try to establish the areas for potential improvement. The discussion will be moderated by Sylvie Lemoine, Executive Director Product Stewardship at Cefic.
The draft programme can be found HERE.
Celebration of the ESIG & ESVOC 25 years anniversary
After last year’s modest online celebration with ESIG members and former chairs of ESIG and ESVOC, on the evening of 18th October, we could finally have a live celebration of the 25th anniversary of ESIG and ESVOC inviting everyone who has contributed to our work in the past years.
Opening the event, Marco Mensink, Cefic’s Director General, congratulated us and wished ESIG at least 25 more prosperous years ahead! Rob Oades, ESIG’s chair, made predictions for the future. Alain D’haese , Secretary General at the European Aerosol Federation FEA and current chair of ESVOC, reminded past achievements. Special thanks went to Alison Margary and John Pearson for their ground-breaking contribution to two pillars of the work: the development of Generic Exposure Scenarios and the solvents VOC emission inventories.
Experienced guides gave short tours through the museum before everyone settled for the birthday dinner.
We hope to see you in 4 years to celebrate the 30th anniversary and new achievements of the solvents industry!
(Click to enlarge images)
ESIG speaking at events
UNECE Taskforce Technical & Economic Issues – TFTEI
During the October meeting of the UNECE Taskforce Technical & Economic Issues in Rome, ESIG and ESVOC were invited to present the current legal framework in the European Union with respect to solvent VOC emissions and to provide the industries’ views on the current review of related annexes of the Gothenburg Protocol.
The crucial role of solvents was highlighted as solvents are fulfilling critical functions in numerous processes & provide solutions in many sectors. In many applications, be it industrial, professional or consumer, their volatility is key, and several examples from different sectors were provided.
It was the last meeting chaired by Tiziano Pignatelli. The entire Taskforce and the secretariat of the Air Convention thanked him for his enthusiasm, humour, and support.
Workshop on Sustainable Solvents at Ghent University
In September, Cornelia Tietz, ESIG’s General Manager, gave a presentation at the Workshop on sustainable solvents, a workshop for producers, users and recyclers of solvents organised by the University of Ghent, University of York and the University of Toulouse. Greenwashing and misleading pretences are, unfortunately, still widely used to promote “green,” “sustainable”, or “bio” solvents, whereas there is no harmonised definition of what this means. Bio-based solvents are defined by an EU standard (EN16766:2017), “Bio-based solvents – Requirements and test methods”, as providing:
- bio-based content;
- bio-based solvent definitions and classes;
- sustainability criteria;
- the impact on health and safety;
- performance for the end user.
When those solvents are advertised or seen as « environmentally friendly » and « less toxic », that is not always an objective claim. Therefore, it is advised to always verify the safety data sheet and the REACH dossier to ensure that all tests conducted to claim « less-toxic » are already made. Last but not least, also the information from the Life Cycle Analysis should be compared and verified.
Above all, biobased alternatives which meet the criteria of complete biodegradation, low toxicity and low VOC, compared to the fossil-based counterpart, are likely to be considered valid alternatives only where they also meet the functional requirements of the solvent in the specific applications.
VLAPRIP workshop “Veilig werken met chemicaliën – working safely with chemicals”
In October, ESIG’s Chair Product Stewardship, Christiaan Fetter, launched the updated “Solvents and the safe use of gloves” film during a organised by the Belgian Chemicals Association, essenscia’s Flemish branch, VLARIP. European Safety Federation’s Henk Vanhoutte gave a practical demonstration emphasising the importance of choosing the suitable glove material.