Changing Fire and Environmental Regulations

Unique to flame retardant and fire-safe materials research is that fire safety codes and regulations drive the field more than any other phenomena. In addition, there are new trends, codes, and regulations which appear on the surface to have no relation to the flammability performance of materials, but are currently driving the field of flame retardant research. These codes, typically enviromnental in nature, can adversely affect fire safety for polymeric materials and, in turn, limit the existing flame retardant solutions that could yield acceptable fire safety. 

There continue to be perception issues over some species of flame retardants, specifically relating to persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity (PBT). Most of these PBT issues are legislatively mandated in the European Union (EU), but these issues are beginning to show up at the state level in the United States and at the national level in Japan and a few other Pacific Rim nations. In addition to PBT issues, there is an increased requirement for recycling plastics used in commercial products, which is most prevalent in the area of information technology equipment (ITE). ITE sale and use in the EU is covered by the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) protocol, which dictates that plastics used for ITE need to be either recycled or incinerated after use. Due to the perception issues behind halogenated flame retardants, some have been deselected for ITE applications in favor of nonhalogenated flame retardants. So with the emphasis 

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