AAFA writes to New York authorities on issue of PFAS in apparel laws

The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) recently wrote to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation expressing concern over the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) analyte restrictions at the proposed levels and urging the department to clarify that the testing thresholds do not apply to products made with recycled materials.

In its proposed PFAS restriction levels, the department suggested the introduction of limits as low as 25 parts per billion across ten specific PFAS substances for all apparel products and product components.

“This proposed restriction is not only inordinately expensive, given the number of product components in apparel products and the expense to do the additional tests across each analyte, but is also inconsistent with other state laws,”Chelsea Murtha, AAFA senior director for sustainability, wrote in the letter.

AAFA suggested that to promote a shared regulatory landscape across the country and a commonsense approach to managing chemical exposure, the department should mirror California and adopt only its proposed Total Organic Fluorine 50 ppm limit.

“We further note that, per a recent Notre Dame study, that a total organic fluorine result of less than 100 parts per million (ppm) indicates that PFAS were not intentionally added, which is understood implicitly in California’s current 100 ppm limit,”the letter said.

Testing at the proposed specific analyte levels will create tremendous strain on the department’s resources, as well as on the manufacturers who will be responsible for testing at a granular level across everything from zipper to buttons to screen prints, AAFA observed.

A TOF-only approach—a method that measures the total amount of organically bound fluorine, or TOF, in a sample—to limiting potential PFAS exposures would be preferable given the current regulatory landscape and the overall likelihood of PFAS exposure, AAFA wrote.

Such low concentrations of specific PFAS analytes, as proposed by the department, pose a low chance of exposure and may be present in a product in trace amounts due to processes or contamination outside of the responsible manufacturer’s control, it noted.

Companies should have the capacity to rebut the presumption of intentionally added PFAS for exceeding the TOF limit posed by the department, it said.

In keeping with the department’s stated goal of promoting a circular economy through cutting down on waste sent to landfills and incinerators by 85 per cent before 2050, AAFA strongly advocated for the explicit exemption from PFAS regulation for products made with at least 50 per cent recycled content.

According to the Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management (AFIRM) Group’s consultation comments on a universal PFAS restriction in the EU,“there is currently no economically viable way for sorters/recyclers to know whether, and in what quantity, an incoming product contains PFAS, and, consequently, it is not possible to sort PFAS-containing products away from the recycling stream.”

A recycled content exemption is absolutely necessary to enable the industry’s transition to more sustainable and circular sourcing and production, AAFA added.