What they are, without jargons

PFAS stands for per and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals built around an unusually strong bond between carbon and fluorine. That bond is the whole story. It is what makes PFAS brilliant at repelling grease and water, and it is what makes them almost impossible to break down afterwards.

Nothing in nature dismantles that bond efficiently. Not soil microbes, not composting, not the human body. The chemicals persist in the environment and accumulate in living things, which is where the nickname comes from.

In packaging, PFAS did a specific job: they gave paper the ability to hold oil and moisture out without a plastic liner. Fast food wrappers, microwave popcorn bags, takeaway containers, moulded fibre bowls. Anywhere paper had to survive contact with something greasy.

Why regulators moved

The health research on PFAS is large, genuinely complicated, and still developing. We are a materials company, not a health authority, so the clearest thing to point to is what the health authorities themselves have concluded.

In December 2023, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified PFOA as carcinogenic to humans, its highest category. In the same assessment it classified PFOS as possibly carcinogenic. These are two of the most studied compounds in the PFAS family, not the whole family, and the classification describes hazard rather than the risk from any single product. But it is a significant finding from a conservative body, and it changed the regulatory conversation.

Food packaging attracted particular attention because it sits directly against what people eat, and because the pack does not stop existing after lunch. It goes into compost, landfill or a recycling stream, and the chemicals go with it.