PFAS in operations: EU regulatory trends for manufacturers

PFAS are likely present in your operations — not just your products — and compliance is crucial for both ends. This article will explore how PFAS are released into the environment during product manufacture, which activities are most likely to cause such releases, and what current EU legislation says about this.

What are PFAS and why are they of concern?

Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of over 4,700 synthetic chemicals, first discovered in the early 1930s. They have a wide range of different physical and chemical properties and can come in the form of gases, liquids, or solid high-molecular weight polymers. Their unique physical and chemical properties impart oil, water, stain, and soil repellency, chemical and thermal stability, and friction reduction to a range of products. 

Given their diverse nature, it’s no surprise PFAS are used in numerous industries, such as: 

• Aerospace and defense 

• Automotive 

• Aviation 

• Food contact materials 

• Textiles 

• Leather and apparel 

• Construction and household products 

• Electronics 

• Firefighting 

• Food processing 

• Medical articles 

At this point in time, it would be safe to say that they’re ubiquitous to industrial operations in general.  

However, alongside their many benefits come quite a few downsides. PFAS are highly persistent in the environment and travel easily, often polluting areas far from where they were originally released. More alarmingly, most PFAS are known to accumulate in people, animals and plants, and cause various toxic effects. Some are toxic for reproduction and can harm the development of fetuses. Others may disrupt the human endocrine (hormonal) system.

Sources of PFAS in your operations

Given the ubiquity of PFAS, there’s a statistically significant chance that they could be present in your operations — not just your products. While most regulatory discourse mainly focuses on PFAS content in products and emissions emerging therefrom, less spotlight has been dedicated to the operations end of this scenario. To remedy this, we’ll be looking into the types of PFAS emissions taking place during the manufacturing process, the activities commonly causing them, and the related legislation in the EU. 

That said, PFAS mainly enter the environment through the following emission pathways:

• Air emissions 
• Wastewater discharge 
• Solid waste
   

PFAS in air emissions 

Emissions from industries using PFAS in their manufacturing operations are a significant source of PFAS air pollution. Incinerating PFAS products can cause pollution if the treatment temperature is too low. PFAS can even be released into the air from exhaust emissions of vehicles that use PFAS-containing products, such as lubricants and hydraulic fluids. Moreover, smouldering electronics and other waste can also form toxic fumes that contain PFAS. 

At the EU level, there’s currently no legislation establishing PFAS air emission limit values (ELVs). There’s also little activity on the Member State (MS) front, where only The Netherlands has enforced atmospheric emission limit values (ELVs) for certain individual PFAS (PFOS, PFOA and HFPO-DA) under the Living Environment Activities Decree (Annex III, Dust Classes). 

However, air emission reporting requirements for PFAS do exist under the relatively new Industrial Emissions Portal Regulation, which is directly applicable in all EU Member States and due to enter into force in 2028. Annex I lists industrial activities under its scope, while Annex II provides the list of pollutants and thresholds above which emissions need to be reported in annual load (normally kg per year), including the following two PFAS: 

• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts with a threshold of 1kg per year for air, water and soil emissions 
• Perfluorohexane-1-sulfonic acid (PFHxS) and its salts with the same threshold as PFOA above
  

PFAS in water emissions 

Based on 2022 data from about 1,300 monitoring sites in Europe, 59% of sites in rivers, 35% of sites in lakes, and 73% of sites in transitional and coastal waters exceeded the environmental quality standard for PFOS (a type of PFAS). The main culprits behind these numbers include PFAS-contaminated industrial runoff, landfill leaching, firefighting foam release, and wastewater discharge. While larger industrial facilities have treatment plants, smaller factories commonly discharge wastewater to municipal treatment plants. In these cases, PFAS can end up in sewage sludge, which can subsequently be spread on agricultural land, potentially leading to the contamination of food. 

At the EU level, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) — the primary legislation for water related issues in the EU — lays out the list of priority substances for which good surface water chemical status must be achieved in Annex X. These include, as of 2013, Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS). While the regulatory burden is primarily on EU Member States, to achieve the aims of the WFD, multitudes of national-level legislation have been adopted with direct impact on industrial facilities. 

The WFD is supported by the recast Drinking Water Directive (DWD) which limits total PFAS in drinking water to 0.5 µg/l. It also states that the levels of 20 individual PFAS must each be below 0.1 µg/L. Member States will be required to comply with these levels from 2026. In practice this means that drinking water will need to be assessed going forward to ensure compliance with the Directive. Where levels of PFAS exceed the limits, Member States will have to take measures to remove them from drinking water. Here too, companies may feel the consequences of this law indirectly through national-level implementation. 

PFAS contaminated water emissions are also regulated under the already mentioned Industrial Emissions Portal Regulation, which requires companies to report on the following discharges:  

• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts with a threshold of 1kg per year for air, water and soil emissions 
• Perfluorohexane-1-sulfonic acid (PFHxS) and its salts with the same threshold as PFOA above 

In terms of Member State trends, some integrate PFAS water ELVs directly into environmental permit requirements, while others have adopted standalone drinking and ground water quality legislation as a part of the implementation of the EU WFD and DWD framework.

PFAS in waste management  

PFAS are used in hundreds of products, such as food packaging, clothing, carpets, and cookware, to name just a few — all these inevitably end up in landfill at the end of their life cycle. With current disposal options limited, the concentrated PFAS waste likely returns to the environment, requiring costly removal. PFAS-contaminated waste primarily comes from industrial facilities that manufacture or use PFAS in products like non-stick coatings, waterproof fabrics, and chrome plating. Landfills and wastewater treatment plants also contribute, as they receive PFAS-laden waste and aren’t equipped to remove these chemicals, allowing them to enter leachate, effluent, and biosolids. 

At the EU level, waste containing certain PFAS is regulated under the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation which requires companies to comply with specific waste management obligations if their waste is contaminated with substances listed in its Annex IV — including Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives (PFOS) and Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), its salts and PFHxS-related compounds. For example, if a company were to generate or hold PFOS contaminated waste at its facility grounds, it would have to dispose of it, without undue delay and in accordance with Part 1 of Annex V, in a manner that would ensure that the persistent organic pollutant (POP) content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that the remaining waste and releases don’t display POPs characteristics.  

As the POPs Regulation is directly applicable to all EU Member States, few have attempted to regulate beyond this framework. However, some more ambitious Member States, such as France, are known to enforce ELVs for specified PFAS on a case-by-case basis in permits for relevant activities (for example for PFAS producers).

What does the future of PFAS look like?

The regulatory attitude toward PFAS in the EU is increasingly precautionary and restrictive, reflecting growing awareness about their persistence, bioaccumulation, and health risks. The EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability under the European Green Deal has prioritized phasing out PFAS in non-essential uses, and a landmark proposal submitted in 2023 by five Member States seeking to ban over 10,000 PFAS is currently in the works,  among numerous other PFAS-related initiatives. On top of this, we’re already seeing legislation targeting substances that were initially believed to be safer substitutes to PFAS, such as short-chain PFAS known as GenX — which were recently added to the list of substances of very high concern (SVHC) under the EU REACH Regulation. In light of these developments, having complete oversight of your regulatory obligations and knowing whether your facilities are complying with them is becoming increasingly difficult.

How can we help?

Enhesa EHS Intelligence offers a comprehensive package of services designed to help you navigate and comply with EHS regulations across the globe. The EHS solutions come in 30 languages across over 400 jurisdictions, and provide proactive, real-time regulatory insights tailored to each site and jurisdiction. 

• Compliance Intelligence 

• Regulatory Forecaster 

• Baselines and Guides 

Backed by a global team of over 160 experts, we help you not only meet compliance standards — but lead in EHS excellence.  

For those wanting to plan ahead (and stay ahead), Enhesa Sustainable Chemistry offers a suite of solutions designed to help companies make informed, safer, and more sustainable chemical choices throughout product development and the supply chain. 

• Chemical Assess, an on-demand tool for hazard and list screening of over 300,000 substances 

• Screened Chemistry certification program, which evaluates and certifies textile chemicals for human and environmental health and is recognized by major global brands 

• SciveraLENS® platform, a secure cloud-based system that enables full formulation disclosure, screening, and hazard assessment. 

• ToxPlanet research tool provides access to over 12 million chemical-specific documents from more than 1,000 sources. 

Together, these offerings support proactive decision-making, risk management, and innovation in sustainable chemistry.