Green chemistry chemical accidents

The welfare of the people who work with chemical products and processes is at least as important as the welfare of the environment. Green chemistry is anthropocentric (as is sustainable development). Several green chemistry principles reflect this anthropocentrism. Principles 3 (less-hazardous chemical synthesis), 4 (design of safer chemicals), 5 (safer solvents and auxiliaries), and 12 (inherently safer chemistry for accident prevention) express concern for the health of the people who handle materials or attend to processes (Anastas and Warner, 1998). While many of these safety benefits also accrue to nonhuman organisms, the focus of the principles is on the people who are exposed to these materials and methods. Inasmuch as we cannot know all of the environmental needs of nonhuman things, it is hard to imagine how the focus could be on anything else. 

The replacement of hazardous chemicals with benign and inherently safer alternatives indicated by green chemistry principles is certainly a valuable measure, because a hazardous chemical that is no longer present can no longer be involved in an accident. However, from industrial point of view there are often alternative solution that reduce the risk to a sustainable level at a much lower cost than that required by completely changing the production. 

The categories identified are 1. waste collection including plastics 2. business Ufe 3. green chemistiy companies 4. educational activities around recycling waste including plastics 5. educational activities around chemistry where the issue of plastics is addressed 6. artistic actions enhancing plastics 7. substances considered to be toxic contained within plastics 8. contribution of plastics to sustainable development 9. chemical accidents involving plastics or occupational toxicity in the production of plastics 10. call for waste collection ... 

---