PFAS Emissions - Paper Mills

"PFAS have been used by pulp, paper, and paperboard facilities as an additive or coating to impart certain surfactant qualities to finished paper products. Some facilities have manufactured high-performance paper products, such as those requiring oil, grease, and/or moisture resistance, using additives mixed with the pulp before it is formed into paper. Other facilities apply coatings containing PFAS to the finished paper. There are significant gaps in our understanding of PFAS emissions from paper manufacturing with little or no data available on the type of PFAS present and the emissions to the environment. This project aims to commission a monitoring programme to establish the amount of PFAS emitted from wastewater and paper sludge from permitted paper mill sites, and aims to gather further information for Water Framework Directive (WFD) purposes and to assess compliance with restrictions. It is also aiming to gather information on the amounts or load of PFAS incoming to the mills carrying out paper recycling."