150,000 Gallons of Forever Chemicals, Meet Your End

New Jersey contracts Revive Environmental to permanently destroy 150,000+ gallons of AFFF using supercritical water oxidation

1 Apr 2026

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has launched what officials describe as one of the largest coordinated programs of its kind in American history: a statewide effort to collect and permanently destroy more than 150,000 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam, the firefighting agent long identified as a primary source of PFAS contamination, from firehouses and fire academies across the state. The state is committing $16.6 million in appropriations to fund the initiative and plans to ban AFFF outright in 2027.

The department hired Revive Environmental as prime contractor, with Republic Services overseeing collection-event coordination, transportation, and storage. Collected foam is transported to Revive's permitted facility in Columbus, Ohio, where it is processed using supercritical water oxidation, a method that applies extreme heat and pressure to break the chemical bonds holding PFAS compounds together, converting them into inert mineralized byproducts. Each batch is verified through independent third-party testing. Revive operates the only commercially permitted PFAS destruction business in North America.

AFFF has historically been used to suppress fuel-based fires at airports, industrial facilities, and along major transportation corridors, making New Jersey's dense industrial network one of the region's more significant sources of accumulated foam. PFAS are synthetic chemicals linked to cancer, immune system complications, and long-term environmental contamination; because they do not readily break down in nature, they can persist in water, soil, and the human body for years. For many fire departments, the collection events offer a resolution to a problem that had no viable exit: foam stored for decades at stations with nowhere to go.

Some departments had previously disposed of expiring foam by running it through training drills in open fields, a practice that risked spreading contamination into surrounding soil and waterways. That improvised approach underscores how inadequate prior infrastructure was. Smaller volunteer companies, in particular, lacked the financial means to arrange independent disposal. The state-funded model addresses that gap directly, though questions remain about whether the destruction capacity at Revive's single Ohio facility will prove sufficient as other states look to replicate the program.

New Jersey's framework, combining regulatory mandate, contracted logistics, and third-party verified destruction, offers a potential template at a moment when AFFF stockpiles are drawing scrutiny nationwide. Whether other states can mobilize comparable funding and political will may determine how quickly the broader problem is addressed in the years ahead.