Workshop: Responsible Disposal of Flame Retarded Foam and Plastic: Developing the Basic Science for Improved Separation and Destruction; VA Tech Center,Arlington,VA, June 2015

加利福尼亚州的易燃性标准TB117-2013最近进行了更新(2014年1月1日生效)，以提高防火安全，而不需要阻燃化学品。因此，北美的新家具和其他消费品将越来越多地生产没有阻燃剂的产品。然而，目前使用的数亿件家具和其他产品含有阻燃化学品，其中许多出于毒性考虑已被禁止或停止生产。此外，大多数电子设备的塑料外壳中都含有阻燃化学物质。有必要确定如何负责任地处理数十亿磅经过化学阻燃剂处理的泡沫和塑料。这些材料应该妥善处理，而不是回收到其他产品或填埋，这可能会导致持续的人类和环境暴露。讲习班的主要目标是将具有共同兴趣和互补专业知识的科学家和工程师的研究小组聚集在一起，以了解改进和创新工艺所需的研究知识差距，以便将阻燃剂从聚氨酯泡沫和塑料中分离出来，然后销毁有害的阻燃剂。将及时发表的报告(作为同行评议期刊的评论文章)将记录当前讨论的研究和今后的方向。

The California flammability standard TB117-2013 was recently updated (effective Jan. 1, 2014) to increase fire safety without the need for flame retardant chemicals. Consequently, new furniture and other consumer products in North America will increasingly be produced without flame retardants. However, hundreds of millions of pieces of furniture and other products in current use contain flame retardant chemicals, many of which have been banned or removed from production due to toxicity concerns. Also, most electronic devices contain fire retardant chemicals in their plastic casings. There is a need to determine how to responsibly dispose of billions of pounds of foam and plastic treated with chemical flame retardants. These materials should be properly disposed of rather than recycled into other products or landfilled, which can result in continued human and environmental exposure. The major objective of the workshop is to bring together research teams of scientists and engineers with shared interests and complementary expertise to provide understanding of the research knowledge gaps needed for improved and innovative processes to separate flame retardants from polyurethane foam and plastic and then to destroy the harmful flame retardants. A report (written as a review article for a peer-reviewed journal) to be published in a timely manner would document the current research discussed and future directions.