PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The LIFE ChemBee project is based on previous projects (NonHazCity 1 & 2 funded by INTERREG) which were carried out in the Baltic Sea Regions (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, …). Those projects highlighted the low level of awareness regarding hazardous substances found in many household-products (kitchen utensils, furniture, toys, cosmetics and so on). Products containing hazardous substances in a single household can amount to more than 100. Politicians and lobbyists are discussing legal issues. They often lag behind the introduction of new chemicals to the market. The LIFE ChemBee project will empower consumers instead. Awareness raising works as a first step towards minimising the use of products containing hazardous substances and changing behaviour.
OBJECTIVES
The project LIFE ChemBee builds on the experience of the previous EU-funded projects, enhancing their approaches with replication in nine EU countries and including approaches for Turkish and Arabic speaking communities. The project will raise awareness at household and office manager level of the problem of hazardous substances and show them how this problem can be addressed. Campaigns and trainings of private consumers and office managers will be carried out. It will induce behavioural change by using the household check approach developed by the NonHazCity project. Volunteers (chemical ambassadors) will be trained to implement these checks in households, while public administrators will receive training on how to detoxify office spaces and make them safer. The goal of the project is to train as many chemical ambassadors as possible and to ensure replication and continuation after the project, with a view to ultimately reducing exposure to hazardous chemicals to a low level.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Training of 2 300 volunteer ‘chemical ambassadors’, who will ‘swarm’ like bees to check 43 000 households;
- Training of 210 inhouse eco-supporters in 37 city administrations, leading to the detoxification of 2 900 offices;
- Abandonment of 20 detergents and cosmetics per household;
- Reduction in the number of hygiene and cleaning products from 50 to 25 per household;
- Reduction in the number of plastic articles by half per household;
- Communication to producers, retailers and regulators the will to change towards toxic-free solutions; and
- Promotion of the app Scan4Chem, which was developed by the project LIFE AskREACH to support purchasing decisions and to send messages of concern to suppliers, thus pressuring them to implement the REACH Regulation on hazardous chemicals by checking their products and supply chains for such substances, informing customers and substituting substances.
