Read the full article by Emily C. Dooley (Bloomberg Environment)

“California has its eye on “forever chemicals,” and is taking a closer look at safer alternatives in common consumer products, including stain-resistant coatings for boots and food packaging items.

The state this year could require rug and carpet makers to come up with safer alternatives for their stain- and water-resistant products. After-market treatments with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that help consumers protect their boots, clothes, and other textiles from rain, snow, and grease could also face the same fate…

States across the nation have been focusing on PFAS in drinking water supplies, but California and some of its cities are also focusing on the consumer side. The state follows in the footsteps ofWashington state, which had also been poised to ban all PFAS in paper food packaging, though a 2022 effective date has been delayed…

Planned Rulemaking

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control is planning a series of workshops and rulemakings in 2020 related to PFAS under its Safer Consumer Products regulations, which require manufacturers to examine if a listed chemical is necessary in a product and if there are safer alternatives.

The state could then place restrictions on use or how the chemicals must be disposed of, prohibit sales entirely, or take other action…

The California consumer regulations would encompass the entire class because the state says they share similar characteristics. The chemicals pose different health risks, including developmental issues in children, hormonal problems, and certain cancers…

The carpet and rug rule should be announced in early 2020 and would likely affect 58 manufacturers, Balan said…

Meanwhile, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) is working with researchers at the University of California, Davis, to evaluate if PFAS used in packaging can migrate into food and soil. In the lab, researchers have been sampling a mixture of food waste, wood chips, leaves, and compostable products.

Preliminary testing has found levels as high as 2,350 parts per million of total fluorine, an element found in PFAS, Daphne Molin, a senior environmental scientist at CalRecycle , said during a seminar earlier this month…

The study will also examine if there are ways to remove the contaminants from leachate, or the water that has moved through compost…”