The chemical company Chemours in Dordrecht shut down a production line at the end of last year to prevent it from possibly discharging the dangerous substance TFA into sewage water. A Chemours spokesperson said this on Tuesday. The company is working on filters that should prevent the substance from ending up in wastewater. They say they work, but the filters still have to be installed on the production line, which is now closed. “That just takes time,” said the spokesperson. “It is a matter of researching, installing, testing, measuring, improving, adjusting.” The line is expected to reopen in March.
Last May, the Rijnmond Central Environmental Management Service discovered using a new measuring method that the wastewater from Chemours contained trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). This is a type of PFAS: a collective name for chemical compounds of carbon and fluorine that are used in all kinds of consumer goods, from pans to raincoats, but can be dangerous in high concentrations. TFA is on the list of substances that, according to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), are potentially “very worrying” are.
Chemours did not have a permit to discharge TFA and the province of South Holland therefore imposed a penalty. After legal proceedings by Chemours, the administrative judge in The Hague ruled in December that the province was indeed allowed to do so. As of January 1, the chemical company can count on a fine of 125,000 euros for every time inspectors measure TFA in the wastewater, rising to 1.25 million euros. The spokesperson for the chemical company said that it had not received a penalty since January 1.
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