Engaging Stakeholders & Sharing ZeroF’s Innovations

On 20 November 2025, the ZeroF project held its final stakeholder event, “PFAS FREE FUTURE – Safe & Sustainable Alternatives for Packaging & Textile,” at the Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona. The hybrid event gathered around 80 participants, both in person and online, including representatives from research, industry, and public authorities.

Ruth Garcia (Leitat) and Miika Nikinmaa (VTT) opened the event by welcoming all participants, underlining the urgency of finding PFAS alternatives, and introducing ZeroF and its objectives to the audience.

The event programme featured a series of presentations and discussions covering the latest in PFAS-free innovations. Blanca Suarez-Merino (TEMAS Solutions) opened with an overview of the evolving PFAS policy landscape. ZeroF’s textile innovations were presented by Diana Lau (Fraunhofer ISC) and Ruth Garcia (Leitat), followed by VTT’s showcase of food packaging solutions. Tom Tamlander (VTT) and Eddo Da Silva Rosa (LGI) explored consumer understanding and strategies to raise public awareness.

A joint panel with sister projects PROPLANET and TORNADO, moderated by Alina Giesler (LGI), highlighted shared challenges and opportunities, featuring Miika Nikinmaa (VTT), Òscar Calvo (AITEX & PROPLANET), and Raquel Rodríguez (Tecnalia & TORNADO). Lessons from applying the Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) framework were presented by Panagiotis Isigonis (LIST), Elise Morel (TEMAS Solutions) on safety and hazard assessment including computational safety tools, Federico Busio (LIST) on environmental assessment, and Imad Audi (LGI) on economic assessment.

The final panel discussion focused on scaling PFAS-free solutions from lab to industry, featuring textile perspectives from Estel Sarrau (E.Cima) and Marta Casadesús (Tèxtils.CAT), packaging insights from Mårten Alkhagen (Yangi) and Tarja Turkki (Kemira), and moderated by Hille Helkiö (VTT).

The event concluded with remarks from the project coordinator Miika Nikinmaa (VTT) emphasising the excellent work done in the ZeroF project, as well as the importance of collaboration, transparency, and continued innovation as Europe moves toward PFAS-free materials.

For anyone who missed the final event or wants to review it, the slides are available here.

Engaging Stakeholders: The 1st ZeroF Webinar

The ZeroF webinar was held at the end of a 3 days consortium meeting. This insightful stakeholder webinar organised by Eddo da Silva Rosa and Alina Giesler (LGI) in collaboration with all the ZeroF partners, brought together a diverse group from both academia and industry. The webinar provided a detailed update on the progress of the ZeroF Project and featured expert discussions on important topics, including regulatory issues, research challenges, and developments in PFAS-free technologies.

Key highlights from the webinar included:

• Miika Nikinmaa (VTT), project coordinator, presented an overview of the ZeroF Project’s achievements and goals for the final year.
• Blanca Suarez-Merino (TEMAS Solutions) provided an in-depth look at the European regulatory landscape for PFAS, offering critical context for the project’s work.
• Ruth Garcia (Leitat), Diana Lau (Fraunhofer ISC), Erno Karjalainen (VTT), and Mika Vaha-Nissi (VTT) shared their insights into overcoming challenges in developing water- and grease-repellent coatings for textiles and packaging.
• Panagiotis Isigonis (LIST) discussed the application of the SSbD framework in PFAS-free coating development, emphasizing the importance of designing for both safety and sustainability.
• Tom Tamlander (VTT) presented findings from a consumer study that explored PFAS awareness, consumer willingness to adopt PFAS-free alternatives, and barriers to adoption.

Expert Panel Discussion

A key highlight of the webinar was a panel discussion moderated by Hille Rautkoski (VTT), featuring four experts: Elise Morel (TEMAS Solutions), a safety researcher; Ruth Garcia (Leitat), a textile expert; Mika Vähä-Nissi (VTT), a packaging researcher; and Estel Sarrau (E.Cima), a textile industry specialist. The panel discussed the key research challenges in developing PFAS-free solutions and the differences between textiles and packaging. They also addressed the importance of standardization and the evolving regulatory landscape, with all panelists emphasizing the critical role of cross-sector collaboration in driving the adoption of PFAS-free alternatives.

If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording here.