MERGE is a real-time decision support tool that allows environmental considerations to be incorporated quickly and easily into the design of formulated products and their packaging. It provides a comprehensive environmental profile of a product's formulation and packaging, and can be used to screen and compare alternative designs. It can be used in real time -- literally within minutes -- by designers with little or no environmental expertise, and allows companies both to measure and track progress in improving the environmental performance of their products. MERGE was developed by Environmental Defense’s Alliance for Environmental Innovation through work with product development staff, initially at SC Johnson and more recently at Clairol and Mead Johnson Nutritionals.