The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published guidance establishing reference values for surfactants derived from New Approach Methods (NAMs), according to an announcement tracked by the law firm Bergeson & Campbell.

The guidance matters directly for the recycling and waste sectors. Surfactants appear throughout material recovery streams — in detergent residues on recovered paper and plastics, in industrial cleaning agents, and in processing aids used at sorting and reprocessing facilities. Reference values shape how EPA assesses exposure risk for these chemicals and, by extension, what concentration thresholds compliance programs must plan against.

New Approach Methods are computational and in vitro techniques that EPA has been deploying to reduce reliance on traditional animal toxicity testing. For chemical manufacturers and downstream users, NAM-derived reference values can arrive faster than conventional toxicity benchmarks, but they also introduce methodological questions that legal and regulatory advisors are now sorting through.

The Bergeson & Campbell notice flags the publication as a significant development for entities managing surfactant-containing product streams, including formulators, importers, and handlers of recovered materials that carry surfactant residues.

What to watch: how EPA applies these NAM-based values in risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and whether state regulators and recyclers' compliance frameworks adopt the federal benchmarks. The next deciding milestone is EPA's implementation of the guidance in ongoing chemical risk work, which will determine the practical compliance burden for facilities handling surfactant-bearing material streams.