WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 -- Today, EPA released new guidance for disposal and destruction of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The Agency's new 107-page "Interim Guidance" document outlines a long list of unknowns about the ultimate fate of PFAS wastes sent to incinerators, landfills, thermal oxidizers or injected into deep wells for disposal. The document highlights the fact that EPA does not have the monitoring methods or data to conclude that any of these methods are safe ways to contain PFAS wastes.
PFAS chemicals are not currently listed as hazardous in EPA's waste statutes -- Superfund and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) -- leading to highly problematic and ineffective waste handling of products containing the chem...