Chemical Safety to Support Circular Economy (CHESS)

The circular transition is encumbered by challenges related to:

• Chemical regulations which do not consider complex circular loops
• Slow registration processes, resulting in many chemicals on the market remaining unregulated
• Incomplete information from chemical producers down the supply chain.

The project addresses these gaps with a systematic study on how CE actors can screen for harmful substances and communicate safety of products when existing regulations are lacking. Our team aims to:

• Develop and test a Machine Learning model for chemical screening
• Study acceptance and communication of chemical safety of CE products and offers
• Develop risk assessment criteria for CE scenarios
• Integrate findings into a risk management framework for circular actors.

By the end of the project we will have achieved: a proof-of-concept prototype of the AI-based chemical screening tool; a CE ecolabel tested empirically with consumers in Sweden and Denmark; a set of risk assessment criteria for circular business models; a chemical risk management tool for CE. In turn, the project increases understanding of chemical hazards among all CE actors and influences the circular transition.