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Comment by pdonis | Hacker News Reader

So what is the impact of this proposed EPA ruling on ordinary people disposing of ordinary household items like those you describe? Will we all need to have hazmat plants installed in our sewage lines? Will we no longer be able to wash our clothes in washing machines? Will we have to segregate all our trash and pay for our community to have a hazmat disposal truck come around along with the regular trash truck?

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In an ideal world, manufacturers would begin to phase out the use of PFAS as waterproofing, which many already are. An alternative would be Nikwax, waxed canvas, or polyurethenate-coatings or TPU coatings. These alternatives are already used in many goods! For containers (not wearables), you can get aluminum, stainless steel, TI, or glass waterproof cans and jars and bottles that have threaded, screw on caps with silicone o-rings to create watertight seals.

For outdoor goods like backpacks or bags that you want to stay waterproof, I personally recommend PU and TPU coated drybags. For clothing like pants or shirts, I'd recommend opting for non-water-resistant/non-waterproof versions, and just buy an umbrella or raincoat with a PU or TPU coating to shield you rather than trying to wear clothing that will have water bead. Waxed canvas clothing is another option but it can be heavy. Cool if you are into it though, Fjallraven is famous for it, as is Filson.

I don't think you'll be too sad if your disposable food packaging gets a little soggier. You'll probably be a little more sad if you get cancer :(

So over time, hopefully you own fewer and fewer goods that are destroying the planet! Happy friday.

Eg:

https://www.polartec.com/news/polartec-announces-full-use-of...

https://www.patagonia.com/our-footprint/pfas.html

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/06/pfas-tox...

In an ideal world they'd immediately cease use of them, not "begin to phase out".

Immediately ceasing use without suitable replacements would cause a non-trivial amount of economic and social disruption. I'm not sure I'd consider that ideal.

If we're making up hypotheticals, wouldn't the ideal world be not to have ever used them?

> Will we have to segregate all our trash and pay for our community to have a hazmat disposal truck come around along with the regular trash truck?

We could pose all of your same questions about, say, asbestos.

The superficial answer:

Yes, there are indeed times when human screwups necessitate hazmat disposal trucks in residential areas.

The deeper answer:

The optimal solution to a compounding problem is not to politicize it with absurd rhetoric.

It is to stop whatever's feeding into the compounding as quickly as possible. Because that is the only reliable way to reduce the long term costs that you'll ultimately have to pay.

> We could pose all of your same questions about, say, asbestos.

Indeed we could. And the answer we would find is that no, such requirements were not generally imposed on ordinary homeowners, but on manufacturers and construction firms, in the form of requirements not to use asbestos in future projects and to be forced to undertake remediation efforts when asbestos was found at an existing side that needed to be modified. And we would also find that, as a result, many of those same homeowners ended up with long term health issues from asbestos exposure because they were never informed of the risks or given any feasible way to mitigate them. Nor was any cost benefit calculation done in either case (homeowners or manufacturers/construction firms) to see whether the policy that was actually adopted could reasonably be argued to be a fair tradeoff.

Here at least we are being informed of the (claimed) risk. But there is still no cost benefit analysis being done that I can see.

No. No. And Maybe. Like most EPA regulations they will be enforced on the manufacturing/commercial side first. I'm not sure if you're being facetious or just disengenuously attacking regulatory agencies. If you're legitimately concerned, I apologize. On the bright side, you can rest easy.

This is assuming the EPA still exists in a year, which I'm giving 50/50 odds.

It'll still exist, however, it's powers will be reduced to nothing with the death of Chevron deference in June.

This PFAs decision would be a prime example of something the EPA won't be able to regulate without a new congressional bill approving it.

> Like most EPA regulations they will be enforced on the manufacturing/commercial side first.

Is this actual knowledge or just a prediction?

> If you're legitimately concerned

I am, but not just about the impact on me personally. I'm more generally concerned about whether the actual costs of such a regulation will be less than the actual benefits.

It's knowledge. What current regulations require city hazmat vehicles? That was the only remotely plausible impact-to-consumer. Can you name any EPA regulations that affect consumers in any way remotely similar to your original post?

Seems taking your fluorescents and lead based batteries to specialized recycle is about it on the consumer side. Personally I'm happy to do that to prevent poisoning my kids and my neighbor. Also happy for industry to identify safer alternative products.

Please free yourself from the libertarian fever dream.

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