PFAS Remediation - The Role of ESD, Sustainable practices, Practicability, and Proportionality.
Channel: HydroTerra Pty Ltd
Date: 2024-03-08

In this webinar, we discussed PFAS remediation with Dr John Hunt. You will learn about the development of sustainability concepts in Australia and how they are applied to remediation, specifically the remediation of PFAS in soil. The language in regulations around practicability and proportionality, derives from the national sustainability framework, and we now have an AUS ISO for Sustainable Remediation. PFAS are problematic contaminants because large volumes of low-level contamination in soil are typical of many sites and determining how much remediation is required can be problematic. 

 
You will learn: 


The origin of Australia’s national sustainability framework in ESD, and how its principles, including proportionality, have been incorporated in state and national regulations applicable to PFAS. Which judge, in which jurisdiction, has systematically created case law around each principle of ESD. The origins and principles of Sustainable Remediation that appear in AUS ISO18504 2022, and how they can be applied to remediation of PFAS in soil, including methods such as immobilisation, disposal to landfill and thermal treatment to develop a sustainable solution; and how the concept of proportionality can be documented when it comes to remediation of PFAS in soil.


The last two points will be illustrated using a hypothetical PFAS site, based on recent PFAS remediation projects which the author has been involved in. To hear the conclusions however, you will have to attend the ALGA Symposium on PFAS Management into the Future on 14 March in Sydney.