Safe and Sustainable by Design Assessment of Flame Retardant Alternatives in Household Electronic Devices: A Comparison of Phosphinate-Based and Brominated Systems

The European Commission (EC) introduced the Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) framework to support the transition toward a toxic-free environment and to foster chemical innovation through the (re)design of safer and more sustainable chemicals and materials. The present study applies the EC SSbD framework to assess the safety and environmental sustainability aspects of two flame retardant (FR) systems used in plastic components of household electronics: a phosphinate-based system and a brominated system. The former (alternative system) is based on aluminum diethyl phosphinate (DEPAL), while the latter is based on decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE). Brominated FRs, despite their links with adverse health and environmental effects, continue to hold a significant share in the market of FRs. Therefore, alternatives, such as DEPAL, which is in the organophosphorus class, are explored. The SSbD assessment was performed using the PARC SSbD toolbox, an integrative platform of tools being developed to operationalize the SSbD framework. Under the modeled conditions, the phosphinate-based FR system demonstrated a more favorable comparative SSbD profile than the brominated system across safety (hazard, occupational, consumer, and environmental exposure) and environmental sustainability dimensions. The assessment outputs included hazard-screening flags and human health risk characterization ratios (RCRs) below 1 for both systems, while higher environmental risk was estimated for the DBDPE-based system in aquatic sediments (RCR > 1). The brominated system also showed higher environmental impacts in most life cycle impact categories, including climate change, with 21 t CO2-eq/m3 compared with 17 t CO2-eq/m3 for the phosphinate-based system. Although DEPAL carries a self-classification as vPvM (as of June 2026, still pending official ECHA conclusion based on chemical compliance check), the risk-based safety assessment indicated low exposure and controlled risks under the exposure scenarios. Overall, this study highlights the value of adopting SSbD in innovation processes and its potential to support evidence-based chemical innovation.