07 Nov BSEF China discuss potential Impact of Halogen-free Movement on China’s E&E Industry at CPCIF conference

Harry Du, Secretary General of BSEF China, made a presentation on the “Potential Impact on E&E Industry by the Halogen-free Movement” during the 2023 “China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) conference on new energy battery materials and functional chemicals”. This conference, which is the 5th event organized annually by CPCIF in Huaibei, attracted numerous relevant stakeholders from both the chemical industry and the local governments, in particular administrative departments of chemical industry parks.

In his speech, Harry discussed the sustainability of flame retardants (FRs), pointing out that in order to obtain a proper assessment of their impact on the circular economy, there is the need to perform a comprehensive assessment, which looks at the whole product lifecycle – from packaging to distribution and recycling – and takes environment, social and economic impacts into account.

In this sense, when FRs comply with chemical regulations’ requirements – demonstrating their safe use throughout the value chain – and show to have low carbon footprints in the whole life cycle, they can be placed in the market. Without these considerations, the replacement of halogenated FRs could lead to “regrettable substitution”, which occurs when a chemical with an unknown or possibly worse hazard profile is used to replace a chemical previously identified as problematic. In some situations, moving away from HFRs could weaken the stability and safety of E&E products, increase the cost in testing and patents, and reduce the competitiveness of China’s E&E industry.