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NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2000
NEW US, CANADA GUIDELINES TO LIFT REGULATORY "CLOUD" OVER NONYLPHENOL ETHOXYLATES
NPE Users to Receive New Compliance Tool
For over a decade, companies that make and use nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) have anxiously speculated over the future of the compounds. Questions regarding the degradability of NPEs have troubled producers and customers alike. And despite studies demonstrating their safety in the environment, the regulatory future of NPEs has remained cloudy, at best.
All that is set to change. In May, the US EPA is expected to issue water quality guidelines identifying environmental limits for nonylphenol that are protective of the aquatic environment. Environment Canada is expected soon to issue its environmental and health characteristics review of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates under its "PSL2" program.
"Companies using products that contain NPEs will know what they have to achieve to protect the environment," said Bob Fensterheim, Executive Director of the Alkylphenols & Ethoxylates Research Council. Studies indicate that the draft EPA guidelines on nonylphenol are conservative - that is, the guidelines provide a significant margin of safety to protect aquatic organisms.1
NPEs are commodity surfactants used in many cleaning products and industrial processes, such as the production of pulp and paper, paints and coatings, textiles, leather, metals and plastics. Nonylphenol is the basic building block of nonylphenol ethoxylates and also can be a minor degradation intermediate.
In anticipation of these forthcoming regulations, the APE Research Council has developed the "NPE Environmental Management Program" to help companies meet the new water quality guidelines on nonylphenol in the US and potential future regulations in Canada.
The Program is designed to support the continued use of nonylphenol-based products by promoting widely accepted product stewardship and wastewater treatment practices. As part of the program, the APE Research Council also will develop voluntary water quality levels for nonylphenol ethoxylates and their degradation intermediates.
The NPE Environmental Management Program will:
- Promote the forthcoming US regulations through a major outreach program to end-users of NPEs and related products, including workshops with formulators and end-user associations, technical guidance materials and a new web site.
- Develop voluntary, risk-based levels for commercial NPEs and related compounds: low mole nonylphenol ethoxylates and nonylphenol ether carboxylates, which are the transitory degradation intermediates of NPEs.
- Monitor targeted waterways in conjunction with government agencies to help assure that water quality guidelines are being met.
- Work with facilities to apply appropriate product stewardship and treatment methods to assure compliance with the guidelines, including making available technical experts to work directly with end-users to determine appropriate control methods.
Most companies are believed to be already meeting the forthcoming guidelines through existing, widely accepted pollution control and management systems. "We think the vast majority of companies are already in compliance," said Fensterheim. "We'll work with facilities that may have difficulties to make sure they can comply and continue using existing products."
Over the years, regulators have raised questions about the safety and degradability of NPEs. However, recent and pending risk assessments, including those by the US EPA, Canada and the European Union, have concluded that NPEs and nonylphenol degrade in the environment.
"The degradability question has plagued our industry for years," Fensterheim said. "That's why these new guidelines and our management program are so important."
"We think that voluntarily including NPEs and the degradation intermediates in the program will make end-users more confident that they are protecting the environment so they can continue using NPEs."
The APE Research Council, composed of manufacturers, processors, users and raw material suppliers, promotes targeted research and science-based advocacy and outreach efforts related to alkylphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates.
For additional information, please contact Barbara Losey at 202-637-9040.
Editors note: please see attached information on the NPE Environmental Management Program.
1 The draft EPA water quality guidelines for nonylphenol are: freshwater - 6.6 parts per billion (ppb) water (four-day average) and 25 ppb (one-hour average); saltwater - 1.6 ppb (four-day average) and 6.2 ppb (one-hour average).
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