DuPont announced it has achieved several milestones in fulfilling its commitments introduced in August 2019 related to per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
These actions advance the company’s plans to achieve its 2030 Sustainability Goals to make the world safer, healthier and more sustainable.
“We’re pleased to have made this progress in delivering on our promises related to PFAS chemicals as we strive to live our core values of sustainability and environmental stewardship,” said Alexa Dembek, chief technology & sustainability officer, DuPont. “We look forward to sharing further updates as we continue our progress on these commitments and our broader 2030 sustainability goals.”
To date, DuPont has achieved the following milestones:
- Eliminated the use of long-chain PFAS from its products and processes, including recently integrated operations, by the end of 2019;
- Eliminated the purchase and storage of PFAS-based firefighting foams at many of its sites and are on track to eliminate all PFAS-based firefighting foams at its sites by the end of 2021(where legally allowed);
- Conducting ongoing remediation at DuPont sites that have a historic PFAS footprint;
- Providing $6 million of unrestricted research funding over the next 3 years to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to fund innovative PFAS remediation technologies. The NSF recently requested proposals for novel PFAS research as part of this initiative;
- Providing open-source access to technical guidance documents on how to use DuPont and other manufacturers' resin technologies for PFAS remediation;
- Enabled access to DuPont’s proprietary product stewardship software to organizations including the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, Beyond Benign, Rutgers and others;
- Engaging with ERM, an accredited third-party expert and leading global provider of EHS and sustainability-related services, to review management of substances of current and emerging concern to further improve processes and protocols.