Beyond the development of individual case studies, PLANETS aims to demonstrate that the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework can become a practical and scalable approach for the European chemicals and materials industries. The project addresses a critical challenge facing Europe: maintaining industrial competitiveness and innovation while responding to increasing environmental, health, and regulatory demands. By integrating safety, sustainability, functionality, and circularity considerations from the earliest stages of innovation, PLANETS seeks to reduce the risk of regrettable substitutions and to accelerate the market uptake of safer and more sustainable alternatives. The project brings together industrial partners, research organizations, and SSbD experts to establish methodologies, assessment tools, and decision-making processes that can be applied across different value chains and material classes.
A key objective is to generate robust scientific evidence supporting the transition toward safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials while ensuring technical performance and economic feasibility. The selected case studies cover products that are widely used in everyday applications and that currently face sustainability or safety concerns. By addressing surfactants, flame retardants, and plasticizers, PLANETS targets substances that are relevant to multiple industrial sectors (coatings, foams and childcare respectively). Demonstrating SSbD solutions in these sectors will provide valuable guidance for future product development and regulatory implementation.
In addition, PLANETS contributes to the European Green Deal and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability by promoting transparency across value chains, improving hazard and exposure assessments, and supporting circular economy principles. The project also seeks to strengthen collaboration between industry and academia, facilitating knowledge transfer and the development of harmonized assessment approaches. Ultimately, PLANETS intends to establish practical pathways that enable companies to innovate responsibly, reduce environmental impacts, protect human health, and reinforce Europe’s leadership in sustainable chemicals and materials innovation.
Finally, the social acceptance of these SSbD alternatives will be assessed. To support awareness and stakeholder engagement, dissemination flyers providing accessible information on plasticizers, surfactants, and flame retardants have been developed and distributed. In addition, two stakeholder surveys have been conducted: a general survey targeting a broad range of stakeholders and a consumer-oriented survey specifically focused on childcare products. These activities contribute to evaluating perceptions, expectations, and the social acceptance of the proposed alternatives.
