Mapping Uncertain Risks and Impacts of Substances of Concern in Product Life Cycles - An SSbD Tool for Product Developers

Abstract

Current Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) frameworks, such as those proposed by the Joint Research Centre, support the development of safer, more sustainable substances, materials, and manufacturing processes. However, these were not designed for product developers or designers and therefore do not align with the iterative and creative nature of product development, nor with its specific needs and constraints. Broad adoption of SSbD requires tiered, resource-efficient assessments tailored to the specific needs of different professionals. The product developer’s perspective is essential for creating safer, more sustainable products, enabling context-specific evaluation of chemical applications, substances of concern (SoC), and product life cycles. In a circular economy, where products, parts, and materials circulate, holistic views become critical, as emissions and exposures may increase and accumulate. Therefore, we developed the Mapping Assessment for Product Substance Safety and Sustainability (MAPSSS) tool, which integrates principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Risk Assessment (RA) into a product development context. Through iterative development based on real-life cases of products containing SoC, we combined essential elements of RA and LCA into a product development workflow. Expert input on environmental assessment and ecotoxicology informed each iteration of the process. MAPSSS supports product developers in identifying and assessing SoC risks, trade-offs, uncertainty levels, and environmental impacts across the product life cycle. It enables the identification of risk hotspots in reference products, supporting mitigation strategies and comparison with new solutions. This represents an initial step toward a product-specific SSbD assessment tool for early design stages.