EPA Grants Groups’ Petition to Review PFAS in Plastic Containers

The EPA will address PFAS formed during the fluorination of plastic containers used in a variety of household and industrial products, the agency said.

Three types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA)—will be subject to review, the Environmental Protection Agency said in granting a petition from environmental groups.

Seven groups, including Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Center for Environmental Health, urged the agency to take action under the Toxic Substances Control Act after previous attempts to regulate PFAS created through flourination, a process used to strengthen plastic containers, were struck down in court.

PFAS build up over time in the environment and the human body, where they have been linked to health problems including cancers and reproductive harm.

The EPA plans to identify the number, locations, and uses of flourinated containers in the US, the agency said in a statement Thursday announcing its decision. It will also use its authority under TSCA Section 6 to begin gathering information on alternatives to fluorination and measures to address risks from PFAS formed during that process.

Past attempts by the EPA to crack down on PFAS in flourinated containers have faltered under scrutiny in court.

The agency in 2023 ordered Inhance Technologies LLC to stop production of PFAS after it determined the company’s process of exposing high-density polyethylene containers to fluorine gas in order to strengthen them unintentionally generated three types of PFAS in an insecticide product.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down that order in March, agreeing with Inhance that its inadvertent generation of PFAS over 40 years was not a “significant new use,” which would have required EPA approval.

In February, the EPA published a new method to detect 32 types of PFAS in the walls of high-density polyethylene containers, with the goal of preventing PFAS contamination before the products are used.