NORWELL, Mass. — Clean Harbors Inc. has released a new set of guidance standards aimed at helping businesses, governments, and communities address the treatment and disposal of PFAS, a group of chemicals widely known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment.
The company said its framework provides a structured, cost-effective approach to managing PFAS contamination by aligning treatment and disposal methods with contamination levels, waste types, and regulatory considerations. The guidance incorporates a range of technologies, including high-temperature incineration, engineered landfill containment, and water treatment systems.
“We have had many customers, governmental agencies and community leaders approach us for advice on how to best move forward with cost-effectively addressing the safe treatment and disposal of PFAS, as well as cleaning up contaminated sites,” said Eric Gerstenberg, Co-Chief Executive Officer. “At times, these customers are dealing with an emergency involving PFAS, such as an industrial fire. As of yet, there is no well-established comprehensive framework. We have developed our framework as a potential cost-effective roadmap to assist companies and communities looking to address PFAS site contamination, as well as eliminate existing inventories of PFAS-related products such as AFFF firefighting foam. Our recommendations are based on years of institutional knowledge that stems from assisting customers with efficient solutions for these forever chemicals in its many forms, including AFFF, industrial waters, impacted drinking water and soil. In addition, our framework is based on strong scientific data, including the PFAS incineration study we completed in conjunction with the EPA and the Pentagon in late 2024.”
The framework outlines a tiered system that matches PFAS concentrations with appropriate disposal or treatment pathways. For heavily contaminated materials, the company recommends high-temperature incineration at permitted facilities. Moderately contaminated soil and waste may be directed to specialized landfills with containment systems, while lower-level contamination can be handled through controlled landfill environments or wastewater treatment systems. Drinking water treatment is advised when PFAS levels exceed established thresholds.
Mike Battles, Co-Chief Executive Officer, said the approach reflects how regulators typically address complex environmental contaminants.
“PFAS should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all issue, but rather as a concentration-based framework that matches the waste with the right treatment or disposal pathway,” Battles said. “We took a tiered approach in our recommendations, which mirrors the way environmental regulators and remediation practitioners typically address complex contaminants – using a combination of destruction, containment and treatment technologies. As PFAS remediation accelerates nationwide, our integrated framework provides a practical and scalable model for industry and government partners.”
PFAS contamination has become a growing concern across the U.S., affecting soil, groundwater, and drinking water supplies. The chemicals have been widely used in industrial processes and firefighting foams, particularly aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF.
Gerstenberg said the company’s broader PFAS strategy builds on a “Total PFAS Solution” introduced in 2024, which includes services ranging from testing and filtration to remediation and disposal.
“We know that many customers – both private and public – want safe, assured destruction of PFAS at scale to eliminate any further liabilities as these chemicals never degrade and often migrate,” he said. “There are many locations that have soil, water or both contaminated by PFAS, as well as stockpiles of AFFF to address. In addition, over the decades, PFAS chemicals have leached into groundwater and contaminated many drinking supplies. Given that customers are facing PFAS in multiple forms, we introduced our ‘Total PFAS Solution’ back in 2024 consisting of eight core elements and providing customers with a range of services to meet all their needs, from analysis to water filtration to remediation to disposal. Today, we believe that Clean Harbors remains the only company that can cost effectively offer an end-to-end, single-source answer for any PFAS need, and at a commercially scalable level.”
“We have shared our disposal framework with the EPA, and it was also submitted as part of Eric Gerstenberg’s written testimony to the Senate EPW Committee in November 2025. Regulators, politicians and PFAS experts alike are increasingly recognizing that no single technology can address all PFAS waste streams. As a result, we developed our comprehensive framework incorporating multiple solutions as a baseline to help customers navigate the risks and challenges presented by these harmful forever chemicals,” Battles said.
