The Living Product Challenge material health framework was designed to present manufacturers with a pathway for engaging with and optimizing the material health of products. For some, participating in the Challenge will be their first introduction to this manner of understanding their product ingredients and supply chain. Others manufacturers will be much further along this pathway, with company-wide proactive approaches to the creation of healthy products from safe materials. The program is designed to be able to meet manufacturers where they are and push them further, as well as provide market recognition for the hard work they have already done.
The process used in LPC aligns with industry-accepted pathways for optimizing material health, and can be best described as a framework of “Know, Disclose, Assess and Optimize”. All products that pursue LPC are required to first identify the ingredients in their product and screen for any Red List substances; then verify and disclose that information to the public to obtain a Third Party Verified Declare label. Beyond that, manufacturers may elect to work with a Material Health Assessor (MHA) to pursue Transparent Material Health; going deeper to assess how each substance performs against multiple hazard endpoints, and working to optimize the product content and demonstrate that it is safe for use and disposal. These steps are illustrated below and further in this section, as they pertain to the specific requirements of the Living Product Challenge program Imperatives 08 Red List and 09 Transparent Material Health.
