Environmental Leader

Daikin, DuPont, 3M/Dyneon and Solvay Solexis have met the goals of an EPA-backed program aimed at reducing the emissions from, and use of, long-chain perfluorinated chemicals.

The EPA’s voluntary 2010/15 PFOA Stewardship Program’s intermediate goal was for a 95 percent reduction in global emissions and product content by 2010. Launched in 2006, eight companies originally signed up for the program. Along with the four companies meeting the goals, Asahi Glass Company, Clariant International Ltd., Arkema Inc. and BASF (formerly Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corporation) make up the list of eight partner companies.

All eight participating companies have informed EPA that they are on track to phase out LCPFCs by the end of 2015.

The EPA says that it remains concerned about LCPFCs being produced by companies that are not participating in the stewardship program and intends to take action to address those concerns as part of an ongoing effort outlined in 2009.

In 2010, IBM announced that it had eliminated perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid compounds from its integrated chip manufacturing processes.

IBM eliminated PFOS and PFOA in its wet etch processes at the end of 2008, and eliminated them in its photolithography processes as of January 31, 2010, by working with its suppliers to develop alternative formulations.