What you need to know about PFAS in food packaging

by admin06/28/202106/28/2021

Check out these graphics for everything you need to know about PFAS in food packaging in WA and the Department of Ecology’s current open comment period on the scope of their 2nd alternatives assessment on PFAS in food packaging. Don’t forget to submit your comment at bit.ly/EMpfas2AA by June 30, 2021!

Part 1

PFAS is a moral issue. All of the PFAS used in our country's food packaging is made at one plant in Decatur, Alabama, contaminating the community's drinking water and farmland for decades. Nearly 80% of the people who live within three miles of this plant are BIPOC, and 51% of the community is Black.

Alternative food packaging that is both safe and affordable is widely available. More and more retailers are voluntarily phasing PFAS out of food packaging. The City of Seattle has already effectively banned PFAS in food packaging by requiring packaging to be compostable.

Toxic PFAS chemicals last FOREVER. PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" because they do not break down in the environment. Exposure to high levels of PFAS has been linked to thyroid disease, certain cancers, and other serious health problems.

PFAS in food packaging is no good, very bad. PFAS chemicals are applied to food packaging because of their nonstick properties. PFAS is used because it prevents grease from sticking to your wrapper. Unfortunately, these toxic chemicals don't just stay on the wrapper, they migrate to our food, which introduces them into our bodies and waterways.

Right now we can advocate for stronger PFAS protections. Submit your comment today! Go to: bit.ly/EMpfas2AA. Use Earth Ministry's online form to send a comment to the Department of Ecology about the second alternatives assessment for PFAS in food packaging. Deadline June 30.

Part 2

2020: Dept. of Ecology Alternatives Assessment. The Healthy Food Packaging Act requires an alternatives assessment before products are phased out. The first round will ban PFAS in four types of food packaging starting in 2023 - there are six other product categories that are not yet regulated. This process will repeat until all food packaging is PFAS-free, but it's taking a long time.

Looking forward: The Dept. of Ecology is now accepting comments on the scope of their second PFAS alternatives assessment. We are reminding the agency that their decisions and timeline have real implications for the health of human families and ecosystems. Safe and suitable alternatives for PFAS in food packaging are available and widely in use. Now is the time to strengthen this ban statewide.

2018: WA Passed HB 2658, the Healthy Food Packaging Act. Washington's State Legislature was the first in the nation to pass a ban on PFAS chemicals in food packaging. The Earth Ministry community was active in this effort, sharing our moral obligation to protect our bodies, communities, soil, and water from this class of toxic chemicals.

PFAS will be phased out of: wraps and liners, plates, food bowls, and pizza boxes. Not yet banned: bags and sleeves, bowls, trays, french fry cartons, clamshells, interlocking folding containers (i.e. takeout boxes)

Today: We have a chance to advocate for stronger protections from PFAS, submit a comment! Go to: bit.ly/EMpfas2AA. Use Earth Ministry's online form to send a comment to the Department of Ecology about the second alternatives assessment for PFAS in food packaging. Deadline June 30.

Earth Ministry/WAIPL works within the unceded territories of Northwest Native nations. Our office is on the traditional land of the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish People past and present. Land acknowledgement is one way to resist erasure of Indigenous histories as well as to honor tribes and the land itself.