A new study published today shows that even with massive financial investments in PFAS clean up across Europe, less than 2% of these “forever chemicals” would be removed from the environment. This study adds to the growing body of evidence and consensus amongst scientists that the only way to protect human health and the environment from PFAS is to prioritise source control.
The study gives the first comprehensive overview of how much PFAS can be removed from the environment based on investing heavily in soil, landfill, wastewater and drinking water remediation. It highlights that without turning off the tap on PFAS emissions, efforts to tackle the widespread contamination will become an endless and costly cycle, leaving human health and ecosystems exposed.
Costly clean up with limited results strengthens the need for source control
Estimates of PFAS clean up costs have varied massively between studies. Previously, the Forever Pollution Project estimated clean-up costs for legacy PFAS in Europe, assuming emissions had stopped, to be in the region of 1-6 billion euros. However, this isn’t our current reality. To address the ongoing increasing emissions of PFAS, experts believe it could lead to costs of 52-200 billion euros per year.
However, this new study shows that even with such a substantial investment in the most aggressive remediation measures, less than 2% of current PFAS emissions would be addressed. This analysis was based on a hypothetical scenario involving large-scale remediation using emerging technologies and this figure does not include trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) precursors or fluoropolymers.
Lead Author of the study Alison L. Ling says: “We are making so much PFAS, and they are so persistent and mobile that remediation alone cannot keep pace with ongoing emissions,”. She adds: “Clean-ups make sense where they meaningfully reduce exposures and health risks, but even unprecedented spending on remediation could not significantly reduce the amount of PFAS already in the environment.”
TFA and other short chained PFAS are making remediation efforts even more difficult
The study emphasises the increasing significance of ultra-short chain PFAS, such as TFA, which are both challenging to remove and increasingly prevalent in our environment. The rising prevalence of TFA underscores a more extreme form of environmental buildup, intensifying both the complexity and cost of remediation efforts.
“The implication that less than 2% of current PFAS emissions can be remediated may seem surprising at first,” adds Hans Peter Arp, a leading expert in PFAS and TFA, “but when you see the increasing amounts of PFAS, particularly TFA, accumulating in forests, groundwater, grasslands, food-supply systems, ecosystems, and even in our own blood, it makes sense. We cannot remove PFAS from trees, lakes and our cereals. The world is becoming increasingly polluted with diffuse PFAS pollution that will forever change the chemistry of the planet and can never be remediated.”
Fidra and the University of York’s research released last year, shows that the UK is already highly contaminated with TFA – with 98% of the 54 river sites tested found to be contaminated. One site reported the second-highest level of TFA contamination ever recorded globally at a concentration of 78,464 ng/L.
Source control is the only way forward
Current approaches that focus on cleaning up localised contamination are inadequate for persistent, mobile chemicals like PFAS. The authors of this study are calling for a shift in environmental management approaches to PFAS, to prioritise prevention.
This year, the UK released it’s PFAS plan outlining how the government will tackle forever chemical pollution. Though the plan is a step in the right direction and includes some promising actions on understanding sources of PFAS, managing risks linked to their use, and supporting shifts to safer alternatives, the plan falls short on controlling PFAS pollution at its source. The UK’s Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) reached a similar conclusion, stating that the plan is insufficient and recommended a rapid restriction on non-essential uses of PFAS following its inquiry.
Fidra and others are calling for the UK Government to phase out PFAS from all non-essential uses. This could be achieved through alignment with EU chemical regulation, including the EU’s proposed universal PFAS restriction. Turning off the tap remains the most critical and immediate action required to tackle PFAS pollution and protect public and environmental health for future generations.