PFAS-FREE: ON RAI3, EPTA CHARTS THE ROUTE FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

Epta has contributed to an investigation on PFAS entitled “Ban poisons” of the programme PresaDiretta, as virtuous Italian company for the refrigeration sector, charting the route for a world free from these highly polluting chemical substances.

Broadcast in prime time on Rai3 on Monday 18 March, the episode gave ample coverage to the characteristics and current use of PFAS in numerous industrial processes, underlining the health risks.

Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) boast high resistance, anti-adherent, oil and water-repellent properties which are essential to countless sectors. They are used in a vast range of industrial applications, including food packaging, clothing, textiles, electroplating industry, household products, gaskets and much more; however, according to most recent studies, they can contaminate the environment almost irreversibly.

NATURAL REFRIGERATION: THE ONLY POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE

The only possible alternative to PFAS, forever chemicals, also present in fluorinated gases, as well as all the environmentally harmful chemical effects these gases cause, exists and it is called natural refrigeration. Promoted by Epta, pioneer in the sector, even before the harmful effects of these substances were known, namely in 1999, the choice has proven to be so successful that the natural refrigerant fluids have now become the new market standard.

The technological innovations of the Group, developed and patented to overcome the use of hydrofluorocarbons and other types of synthetic gases, show how it is not only possible but also economically advantageous to fully replace the F-Gases with CO2 refrigerants and R290 propane, which are natural and therefore without any chemical impact on the environment.

“Epta has always been a spokesperson for completely natural environmentally friendly refrigeration – it is the founder of a virtuous model of sustainable industrial development” declares Francesco Mastrapasqua, Institutional Affairs Manager of Epta which, following its participation in the programme on Rai3, concludes “After the new F-Gas regulation came into force, which provides for the elimination of  HFC  consumption quotas in coming years and heavy restrictions on the use of all fluorinated gases, we hope for an acceleration towards the massive use of natural refrigerants which have no climate-altering effects or PFAS. Epta, as Green Transition Enabler, supports the principle of precaution to protect the ecosystem from all known and potential harmful effects of synthetic gases.”

The approach of Epta is in line with different institutional initiatives, such as that of the European chemicals agency (ECHA) which, with the goal of neutralising the threat of PFAS, published a legislative proposal in 2023 to ban the use and production of these substances according to the REACH regulation.

Note: PresaDiretta is an Italian television programme of in-depth journalism broadcast by Rai, the state-owned public service broadcaster.