Corporate Accountability for PFAS Chemicals: The Translation of Private Rules in the Swedish Food Packaging Supply Chain
研究了瑞典食品包装供应链中企业如何将PFAS化学品的自愿限制规则转化为实际实践，发现这些规则主要固化了现有做法，而非推动行业彻底淘汰PFAS。
Corporate accountability is central for dealing with environmental and health effects in complex supply chains. When companies hold their suppliers accountable to certain rules or standards, these become disseminated in the supply chain. This study analyses how voluntary restrictions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in paper-based food packaging in Sweden are translated as they travel down the supply chain and their relationship to supplier practice. The multidisciplinary approach draws on both interviews with key actors and chemical analysis of PFAS in food packaging. It shows how demands for accountability for chemicals are translated both horizontally in the industry and vertically in supply chains resulting in a set of interrelated voluntary standards and rules. The chemical analysis detected PFAS in almost half of the samples, but at levels indicating non-intentional use, thereby complying with the disseminated rules. The result shows that the standards largely institutionalize established practices in support of “laggards” rather than push the industry to more radical phase-out of PFAS.