With per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) continuing to be a big issue for the waste management industry, the Waste 2024 Conference hosted a workshop to examine the concerns, risks and management of these ‘forever chemicals’.
Key thought leaders across the waste and resource recovery industry shared how their organisations are dealing with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), their anticipated priorities, and their impact of PFAS on real-world projects.
The workshop, facilitated by Gayle Sloan, Chief Executive Officer of the Waste Management and Resource Recovery (WMRR) Association Australia, was made up of David Springer, Commercial Manager at Envirolab, David Burns, Senior Scientist at EPOC Enviro, and Charmaine Cheah, Senior Engineer at HUESKER Australia.
Together, they looked at aspects such as characterisation, assessment, remediation, and management of PFAS in the community. The panel sought to recognise how much has been learned and understood through investigating and managing PFAS contamination over the past decade. It also focused on where the industry needs to be in Australia and how to get there.
“Australia could become a dumping ground for PFAS-laden products in the future if we do not do something about it,” Gayle said.
Setting the scene
David Springer discussed the contents of PFAS, which encompasses anywhere from 5000 to 15,000 chemicals. However, laboratories mainly test for just 28 of these chemicals known for their extreme persistence and long-range dispersion.
These chemicals are still manufactured overseas, imported into everyday consumer goods, and are now in our blood.
“In the past, we would see PFAS in firefighting foam,” David said. “Firefighters weren’t allowed to buy dishwashing liquid during a period of budget cuts in the 1990s. As a result, they would use that foam to wash the dishes. It was also used for the slip-and-slide around Christmas.”
David said people do not realise that innocuous things contain these forever chemicals. He spoke of finding 400 parts per billion (ppb) of PFAS in plumbers’ tape that had been soaking in water for three days. This was before he pointed to eye pencils and makeup containing PFAS as ingredients.
The waste maze for PFAS
David Burns highlighted that Australia is not a PFAS manufacturer but a passive receiver of these chemicals. He said it’s also important to remember that when a product is PFAS-free, there are less than 100 parts per million of PFAS chemicals, or 100 million nanograms per litre.
“When we go into a shop where the packaging claims that a product is PFAS-free or Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) free, it’s important to understand what that means,” he said.
“Does it mean that there is no PFAS in there and there is no risk?
“It means the company has signed up for a voluntary code of conduct that says there are fewer than 100 parts per million. That is 100 million nanograms per litre, or 100,000 parts per billion. It only has to be less than that number to be considered PFAS or PFOA-free.”
David sought to connect sewage treatment plants to the broader waste networks, including landfill operations and composting.
He aimed to show how the waste network is being unwittingly used to disperse PFAS from highly concentrated levels down to much lower levels that are too expensive and dispersed to do anything about. At the same time, those levels are much higher than what the United States and European Union say is unsafe.
“Even with governments wanting to divert 80 per cent of waste from landfill, how can we do that if there’s a festering contamination problem?” he asked. “The reality is that landfills in Australia are already a dumping ground for PFAS.
“Landfills will become permanent dumps for PFAS, which then leaches into the groundwater or into a sewer connection. That’s unfair for us in the waste management industry, particularly when the chemicals being leached into the groundwater could be millions of times more potent than the PFAS-free products.”
One potential solution
Charmaine Cheah discussed landfills lining system which typically includes various geosynthetic layers such as non-wovens, geomembrane, geosynthetic clay liner, along with a drainage layer, and its challenges in effectively managing PFAS contamination.
She noted that conventional landfill designs are not equipped to manage PFAS contamination effectively as they rely on geomembranes to contain PFAS contaminants. Studies have shown PFAS contamination transport will be diffusion driven in absence of defects. Additionally, mechanical damage during installation can compromise the geomembrane, potentially allowing PFAS to migrate through these areas. Therefore, additional measures are necessary to complement current landfill lining designs.
Current treatment technology, specifically granulated activated carbon (GAC), has demonstrated effectiveness in removing PFAS. However, studies have shown desorption behaviour with GAC resulting in higher PFAS concentrations (after treatment). Charmaine said it is important to note while GAC is effective in adsorbing long chain PFAS, its performance in absorbing shorter chain PFAS is not as robust.
To address these challenges, Charmaine recommends the use of active geocomposite, such as Tektoseal Active PFAS as a reactive barrier for containment and remediation, incorporated into traditional landfill designs.
The geocomposite comprises two layers of geosynthetic component with an adsorbent media (ion exchange resin) to effectively remove ultra short, short chain and long chain PFAS.
Alert, not alarm
The number of questions asked throughout the workshop was an indication of the level of uncertainty surrounding PFAS.
Gayle said the workshop was designed to alert, not alarm, but it was clear one of the difficulties facing the waste sector was the conflicting approaches to PFAS and its impacts. She said recycled products were subjected to standards, regulations, and enforcements not imposed on virgin and other products, stifling a transition to a circular economy. At the same time, hazardous materials are readily available in everyday products.
“As a sector, we’re continually told you can’t make products with that,” she said. “Yet you can buy as much PFAS as you like at a pharmacy. Is it dangerous, or isn’t it? You cannot keep putting a product on the market showing PFAS levels way beyond what we do.”
Gayle reiterated a common thread from the conference – moving the conversation from waste disposal to product design. “We’ve got to stop solving everyone else’s poor design issues and stop making it in the first place.”
Related stories:
Waste 2024 Conference: Circular economy and the Dutch experience