The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) is calling on Federal Government to implement an immediate and comprehensive ban on all types of PFAS chemicals, rather than limiting the ban to a select few, which is scheduled to take effect next year.
Concerns have been raised by the waste and resource recovery industry following reports of PFAS contamination in drinking water. Gayle Sloan, chief executive officer at WMRR, emphasised that while the discovery is alarming, it is not unexpected, given the widespread presence of PFAS in everyday consumer products.
“The reality is PFAS is everywhere. It’s not just in water – you can walk into a supermarket today and buy materials off the shelf that contain far higher levels of PFAS than what is currently being detected in water,” Sloan said.
A 2023 study from the University of Queensland, funded partly by the Australian and Queensland Governments, found PFAS concentrations of up to 29,000 parts per million in various consumer goods. For example, dental floss was found to contain 15 parts per billion (ppb) of PFAS, while microwave popcorn bags contained 18,200 ppb, and cosmetics up to 10,500 ppb.
Australia remains one of the few countries that has yet to sign the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants, which restricts the use of PFAS, commonly known as “forever chemicals,” in many nations, including across Europe. This gap in regulation has led to Australia becoming, in Sloan’s words, “a dumping ground for these chemicals”.
WMRR is pushing for Federal Government to introduce tighter restrictions on products containing PFAS, including labelling and registration schemes. Sloan criticised the government’s current plan to ban fewer than five types of PFAS by 2025, calling it “too little, too late”.
“Unless Australia bans all PFAS, companies will simply switch to other types. Meanwhile, other regions like the European Union and the United States have already moved to ban PFAS or impose stricter controls,” she added.
Sloan urged the government to take immediate action, “This material needs to be prevented from circulating in the environment in the first place. If the Federal Government believes there is no need to act now, they should make that clear.”
WMRR represents over 2,200 members from across Australia’s $17 billion waste and resource recovery sector, including business organisations, government bodies, universities, and NGOs.
