Update
Following several stories inaccurately linking Inhance Technologies’ operations to food packaging, we can confirm that the HDPE containers fluorinated by Inhance Technologies are not used as packaging for consumer food and less than 1% of those HDPE containers are used by the food industry for additives or similar products.
Inhance Technologies believes we have been, and continue to be, in full compliance with all relevant regulations and regulatory guidance, and are operating safely, responsibly and lawfully. We look forward to resolving this matter as expeditiously as possible, and remain committed to protecting human health and the environment.
Inhance Technologies embraces the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to ensure science-based decision-making as it relates to poly- or per-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and to enact solutions that follow the science.
As such, when we were informed by EPA of some data suggesting the potential for certain PFAS to be present in fluorinated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) containers, we engaged outside laboratories to conduct intensive testing as Inhance Technologies has never used or added PFAS as raw materials in any of our processes. The results suggested the potential for certain PFAS to be unintentionally produced in very low concentrations in the fluorination process as impurities that may remain with the HDPE containers. In response, Inhance Technologies developed and readily adopted process enhancements in order to reduce PFAS species down to non detectable levels.
Inhance Technologies has since retained independent third-party experts to conduct a series of exhaustive risk assessments, confirming the safety of our fluorination process for both people and the environment. Separately, a recent independent study involving fluorinated HDPE containers for a pesticide led a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection official to conclude, “I’ve done some worst-case calculations to determine what levels might land in a drinking water reservoir, and the results wouldn’t be measurable.”
About Inhance Technologies Fluorination Process
Inhance Technologies has been fluorinating HDPE containers for more than 40 years. Fluorination creates a barrier that transforms conventional plastics into high performance packaging, preventing permeation of hazardous chemicals and minimizing evaporative emissions of the container contents. Inhance Technologies’ fully recyclable barrier technology prevents more than 25,000 metric tons of annual chemical release to the environment that would otherwise occur due to packaging permeation. Fluorinated barrier packaging has the lowest lifecycle impacts compared to alternative barrier packaging technologies. Our technologies improve product shelf-life and help maintain product efficacy, for vital industries ranging from healthcare and crop protection to transportation and electronics.