Growing concerns over UK's ‘forever chemicals'; cost of clean-up may top US$12b a year
Synthetic chemicals have been widely used in consumer products around the world since the 1950s.
At the University of Birmingham, there is ongoing research into the impact of PFAS. One of its recent studies on bottled water from 15 different countries found that about 99 per cent contained forever chemicals.
Stuart Harrad, an environmental chemistry professor at the university, said these chemicals are also prevalent in the human body due to their widespread use, adding: 'The point to make is, are those concentrations that are in us likely to cause us harm?'
There is growing pressure by campaign groups to continue the recent trend of lowering PFAS exposure and start mass clean-up efforts.
But the price tag to remove the chemicals is massive.
Even if PFAS emissions stop immediately, a targeted clean-up of the existing pollution in the UK would cost about US$0.5 billion a year for the next 20 years, according to the Forever Lobbying Project, a cross-border investigation looking at the finances involved.
If emissions remain uncontrolled, that estimate jumps to US$12 billion a year due to their prevalence and persistence. HOW CAN PFAS BE REMOVED?
Experts said incineration is a potential disposal option after the chemicals are gathered through methods like water filtration. But the process is expensive and energy-intensive.
'Some of the options being considered are things like sonolysis, (which is) using soundwaves to break apart PFAS, or electrochemical oxidation, which uses electric current to shock the PFAS and basically break them apart,' said the Royal Society of Chemistry's Metzger.
'Research is happening into other methods that might lower the energy intensiveness, and hopefully the cost that goes along with that.'
Most observers, however, believe that a clean-up will not succeed until production is drastically reduced.
While some manufacturers are starting to use less harmful alternatives, it is estimated that more than a million tonnes of PFAS are still produced globally each year.
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