Across industries, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) play conflicting roles: essential to product performance for its high resilience, yet complex and costly to manage and dispose of as waste.
One of the focal points of the waste conversation is PFAS in landfills. Landfills are increasingly becoming the juncture where PFAS liabilities concentrate.
These compounds enter landfill systems through everyday consumer products, industrial waste streams and wastewater residuals. Once inside the waste mass, they migrate into landfill leachate, creating pathways that regulators and communities are now scrutinizing more closely.
The current designation of PFAS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) underscores this, raising complex questions about potential cleanup liability for landfills.
As regulations tighten and public awareness grows, landfill owners and operators are facing a critical inflection point: adapt with proactive, site-specific treatment strategies or risk being left behind in a rapidly shifting regulatory and reputational landscape.
The path forward requires innovation, integrated solutions and strategic planning to manage PFAS effectively while supporting continued operational and industrial growth.
Taking the lead on leachate clean-up
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to build out national PFAS policy and the establishment of maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) in drinking water, many states are moving faster and enforcing stricter standards. States like Michigan, California and North Carolina have already implemented PFAS monitoring requirements for landfill leachate, groundwater and air emissions, often well ahead of federal mandates.
In 2022, the Waste Connections Champ Landfill, a modern municipal solid waste landfill in Missouri, was keen to proactively employ the PFAS removal technology for its leachate ahead of any regulatory changes.
It turned to Onterris, whose team of engineers, geologists, chemists, scientists, risk assessors and field technicians researched, developed and deployed a pilot treatment system. The treatment was Foam Fractionation (FOAM-X), a patented technology considered the optimal solution for treating leachate.
Removing PFAS from complex water matrices like leachate has been historically challenging.
Our FOAM-X technology avoids a lot of the complications of pre-treatment. Put simply, air is passed through a reactor of PFAS-impacted water, creating a foam. The PFAS preferentially migrate to the air-water interface of the bubbles and are removed with the foam out the top of the reactor. Waters vary, but for every 10,000 gallons of leachate processed, you’ll get one gallon of concentrated foam that is then ready for a relevant destruction technology.
FOAM-X is a low-energy consumption technology, reducing the carbon footprint and minimizing the environmental waste generated. The system installed at Champ Landfill now removes PFAS from over two million gallons of liquid monthly, ensuring regulatory compliance and sustainability.
Integrated solutions speed up PFAS treatment
This story of Champ Landfill is one of an integrated approach, starting with a full understanding of the regulatory landscape, particularly the EPA’s Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs) Program. The EPA determined that revisions to the ELGs for the landfills category (40 CFR Part 445) are warranted due to PFAS in landfill leachate, but no regulatory changes have been adopted as of now.
We know the applicable rules very well at Onterris. In the U.S., we help develop environmental policy. We help clients prepare for regulatory eventualities, and the cost-benefit analysis or the engineering cost analysis. But we also have a ready-made solution.
For Champ Landfill, that ready-made solution began with Onterris consultants first identifying specific details of the issue and advising on appropriate treatment technologies, involving their extensive testing capabilities to quantify it. Given matrix complexities and the short support timelines, it required customized analytical approaches and a higher level of technical support.
Onterris recently added eight brand new ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometers into our high-resolution PFAS laboratories. This new technology allows us to deploy and develop new methods that are really market disruptors, such as our rapid-turnaround time direct-inject approach.
It also allows us to process some of these samples much more quickly. The sooner our clients have their data, the sooner they can optimize the treatment systems.
This integrated capability, identifying, quantifying and treating all under one roof, gives Onterris’ clients a real advantage.
Treatment beyond the PFAS challenge
The success at Champ Landfill demonstrates how the right technology can transform a compliance challenge into operational advantage. But PFAS isn’t the only issue creating complex treatment scenarios for landfill operators. Elevated temperature events below the surface can produce significantly more leachate requiring safe handling, treatment and disposal.
Onterris stepped in to remediate some elevated temperature events occurring inside cells at a landfill, which was causing as much as five times more leachate to be produced.
It was a difficult matrix with many contaminants and large volumes of water to tackle. In this case, we used granulated activated carbon (GAC) technology, considered a workhorse for projects requiring removal of a wide range of organics. We’ve been on site for a year now, continuing to treat effectively and keep the landfill in compliance.
Once the initial emergency has been responded to, we look at how we can make the solution even better. We go back to the lab and use different methodologies to see if there are any additional steps we can add to improve the process and reduce overall costs.
From compliance to long-term operational strategy
The experience at Champ Landfill shows how PFAS can be managed with greater control when science, strategy and execution are aligned. At Onterris, this continuous improvement approach connects environmental stewardship with cost-effective decision-making, supporting progress without compromising environmental integrity.
Three factors consistently determine success:
Connected expertise across the full PFAS lifecycle
From regulatory advisory and high-resolution analytics to treatment and field deployment, an integrated approach reduces uncertainty and accelerates decision-making.
Solutions designed for real-world site conditions
PFAS treatment must perform within complex, variable environments. Site-specific strategies, including planning for residuals and evolving regulatory thresholds, ensure systems remain effective over time.
Proven ability to move from data to deployment
Translating data into operational systems, and continuously refining them, allows operators to plan ahead rather than react to change, from early detection through long-term monitoring.
Meeting the PFAS challenge requires combining innovation with environmental responsibility. When science, strategy and stewardship come together, operators are better positioned to manage liability, control costs and maintain public trust.
Connect with our experts to evaluate site-specific PFAS risks and design treatment strategies built for long-term performance.