Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Materials Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Issues 2026 Version

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced on April 28th the availability for comments on the following document:

Interim Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Materials Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – 2026 Version (“Interim Guidance”).

EPA is soliciting comments on the Interim Guidance. It is the third edition of this document. 

The Interim Guidance states that this 2026 update provides the currently available information on the destruction and disposal of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (“PFAS”) and PFAS-containing materials.

The Interim Guidance focuses on updates to the current state of science and what it describes as associated uncertainties for three large-scale capacity technologies that can destroy PFAS or control PFAS release into the environment, which include:

• Thermal treatment.
• Landfills.
• Underground injection.

The Interim Guidance also discusses:

• Emerging technologies.
• Framework for evaluating these technologies for PFAS destruction or disposal.

The Interim Guidance’s primary target audience is stated to be:

… decision-makers (e.g., managers of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials making decisions about destruction and disposal) who need to identify effective means for destroying or disposing of PFAS-containing materials and wastes.

However, it also references as intended audience:

• Regulators.
• Waste managers.
• The public (including affected communities).

Further, EPA acknowledges that there may be alternatives that are not discussed in the Interim Guidance that may also be appropriate.

Characterized as “key updates” from previous editions of this document include:

• Underground Injection - Permitted Class I non-hazardous industrial or hazardous waste injection wells are one of the regulatory waste management approaches that can provide reasonable assurance that injected fluids will remain isolated and not migrate into underground sources of drinking water (USDWs).
• Landfills - Permitted RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste landfills incorporate the most stringent engineering controls and practices for containment and are expected to be more effective at minimizing PFAS release into the environment than other landfill types.
• Thermal Treatment - Permitted hazardous waste combustors (HWCs) such as commercial incinerators, cement kilns, and lightweight aggregate kilns (LWAKs) and granular activated carbon (GAC) reactivation units with thermal oxidizers may operate under conditions more conducive to destroying PFAS and controlling related products of incomplete combustion (PICs).
• EPA continues to seek collaboration with thermal treatment facilities to conduct air emission testing during thermal treatment of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials (see Appendix A).
• EPA partnered with industry and academia to collect data on emerging technologies for PFAS destruction, such as mechanochemical degradation, gasification and pyrolysis, and supercritical water oxidation.

A copy of the Interim Guidance can be found here.