Local residents of chemical company Sabic in Bergen op Zoom want to report the company. Sabic would have been illegally discharging Pfas in the Westerschelde for years. The Noordgeest district committee wants that to stop.
The Sabic company uses the chemicals PFBS in the production of plastics. That substance is part of PFAS and can be harmful to the environment and health of people.
Pieter Kwaadgras, spokesperson for the Noordgeest neighborhood committee, is more than fed up with the company’s emissions. “We intend to make a declaration because they discharge PFAS without having a permit for that,” he says.
The plastic manufacturer says that in 2019 she discovered that PfAS is also in the waste water. But only three years later this was reported to the various government agencies. The province of Noord-Brabant is angry about that. According to the province, the company could have known much earlier that Sabic was launching a PFAS fabric.
Evilgras agrees with the province. “Sabic has been leaving a PFAS fabric in the Westerschelde for a long time. They have just not adhered to the permit condition. It states that the company is obliged to register all substances that are emitted. As since the 1990s, Sabic has been working with PFAS. You don’t have to be an expert to know that it will be in the waste water.”
What is PFBS?
PFBS belongs to the so -called PFAS: a group of chemicals. The substances can hardly break down in nature and are therefore also called ‘Forever Chemicals’. They accumulate in people and the environment and are associated with health risks, such as disruptions of hormones and fertility problems.
The discharge of the waste water not only causes unrest in Bergen op Zoom. Local residents are also worried in Zeeland. The polluted waste water is pumped to the Westerschelde via a kilometer -long pipeline and comes to the Zeeland village of value in the river. Egbert Lobée of the Gezond Water Foundation is excited about it. “Through so -called sea spray, drops over the dike in the back garden,” he says. “Research has shown that I have too much PFAS in my blood.” The foundation therefore joins a declaration against Sabic.
The province of Noord-Brabant also wants to reduce the discharge of PFAS. In the past, Sabic would discharge around fifty kilos a year into the Westerschelde. The province wants to record in the permit that it may not be more than 2.75 kilos. Sabic does not agree and went to court. That case starts on September 23, but the judge has already determined in an interim ruling that only four kilos may be discharged this year.
Due to the current lawsuit, Sabic does not want to respond to questions from Omroep Brabant. Previously the plastic manufacturer said to Southwest TV That it has strongly reduced emissions since 2021 and emphasizes that there were no clear rules or measurement methods for PFBS in the past.