PFAS-coated clothes that are thrown away will often end up either incinerated or in landfill. Unless incinerated at very high temperatures (>1000oC), fluorinated polymers could release more harmful PFAS during burning. PFAS of environmental concern have also been found in landfill leachate. PFAS is found in treated waste water from industrial and domestic sources and has been found in both rivers and groundwater. Conventional drinking water processes will not remove PFAS.Small quantities of PFAS will be removed during wash and wear of products containing PFAS. This includes fluorinated polymers used on stain-resistant coatings, and non-polymers that remain on clothes after production (Lassen et al. 2015).Non-polymer PFAS can build up in blood protein of animals, and is not always removed quickly. This means that predators eating PFAS-contaminated food will have higher levels in their bloodstream, and concentrations can increase up the food chain. Studies suggest that build up of PFAS is similar to those of other Persistent Organic Pollutants such as DDT.PFAS are estimated to be settling in arctic regions at rates of tens to hundreds of kilograms per year (25-850kg per year), depending on the specific PFAS chemical in question. Certain PFAS are released as gases to the environment and are blown a long way by wind and air currents in the atmosphere,. These gas PFAS will over time degrade to more persistent chemicals like PFOS and PFOA. This may be one reason why PFAS of environmental concern have been found in remote regions such as the Arctic as well as near PFAS production sitesPFAS including PFOS and PFOA have been found in air samples around Europe. The chemicals are found in small quantities, but appear in almost all samples tested. PFAS enters the atmosphere both from factories and the air inside our homes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17554424 Non-polymer PFAS are used in the production of fluorinated polymers. The manufacture of stain-resistant finishes generally releases these PFASs into the environment, both by air and water emissions. They are very hard to remove during water treatment. Workers in textiles factories are some of the population most exposed to these potentially harmful chemicals.

Skip to navigation
Skip to content

Environmental charity supporting sustainability & preventing pollution

Microplastic loss from artificial (3G) pitches – ECHA

Third generation (3G) artificial pitches use performance infill to make a more comfortable playing surface,
loose elastic granules that are added between the ‘grass’ filament pile. In the vast majority of cases this infill
is made of microplastic, often a rubber crumb made by grinding up end of life vehicle tyres (ELT). Using loose microplastic in an outdoor setting clearly creates a risk of microplastic pollution to the environment.

Considering these known impacts, infill is rightly included in the scope of the upcoming microplastics
restriction under REACH. We see the best course of action as follows:
1) We should stop using microplastic on pitches as there are many microplastic-free solutions on
the market and mitigation measures are never going to be fully effective to stop loss.

2) Existing pitches have been designed without mitigation in mind and should be required to
minimise losses where they continue to use microplastics.

Language: English

Attached Files

File	Action
Microplastic loss from artificial (3G) pitches in context of the ECHA proposed restriction of microplastics intentionally added to products	Download

Download

Version
Download 573
File Size 294 KB
File Count 1
Create Date 6th September 2022
Last Updated 8th February 2023