Britannia Fire warns of industry challenges ahead of PFAS ban

Widely used in firefighting foams, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are under scrutiny due to their environmental impact and health risks. Known as ‘forever’ chemicals, they don’t degrade easily.

Research has also indicated that they can lead to a range of health issues, including decreased fertility, developmental delays in children, a higher risk of certain cancers and immune system suppression. The European Union is phasing them out of firefighting foam and implementing a total ban by 2030.

The UK is yet to announce a ban, but is expected to follow suit later this year. While the Environmental Audit Committee investigates whether the UK is doing enough to address the risks, Spence informed MPs that a successful phasing out of PFAS fire extinguishers will be dependent on several limiting factors including disposal bottlenecks, increasing costs and customer confusion.

With only two UK-approved facilities able to incinerate PFAS foam waste, backlogs are growing and will only worsen. Units contaminated with PFAS cannot be reused or recycled, serving to compound the issue still further.

In terms of costs, as the demand for compliant disposal grows, so too will the associated costs. For their part, many end users remain unclear on what’s already banned, what will be banned and what steps they should be taking now.

Huge strides

Spence (pictured, right) confirmed that the industry has taken huge strides to reduce its environmental impact. Spence informed the Environmental Audit Committee that there are now PFAS-free alternatives on the market enabling customers to easily make the switch (among them Britannia Fire’s P50 fire extinguishers).

“At Britannia Fire,” commented Spence, “we recognised the detrimental effects of PFAS some time ago and successfully removed them from all of our products last year. We’ve been pushing the rest of the industry to follow suit.”

Spence continued: “Our P50 fire extinguishers meet all of the required standards, are PFAS-free, fully recyclable and have a significantly lower carbon footprint than traditional metal extinguishers. They’re also multi-purpose, meaning less units are required, and don’t require costly annual servicing.”

Spence continued “The fire industry is committed to sustainability and safety, but the road to a PFAS-free future is complex. While there are good alternatives on the market, there are still a number of challenges that the industry must overcome. We’re calling for urgent action to streamline disposal methods, for example, potentially extracting water from foam to reduce incineration volumes, as well as a review of existing servicing requirements, which could enable a more flexible and realistic timeline for the phasing out process.”

In order to support end users during this transition, Spence is suggesting that businesses should make the switch sooner rather than later. “By moving early,” he concluded, “businesses will avoid inflated disposal and replacement costs.”

*Further information is available online at www.britannia-fire.co.uk

**View the Environmental Audit Committee session online at parliamentlive.tv