State Regulation of PFAS in Consumer Products Continues to Gain Momentum in 2026

Beginning January 1, 2026, new PFAS prohibitions and reporting requirements take effect in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington. The requirements target a wide range of consumer products and industries, with meaningful implications for companies across the product supply chain.

As public attention regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in consumer products continues to grow and prompts further legislative and regulatory action, companies that manufacture, distribute, or sell products and components that include PFAS must continue to navigate an ever-growing patchwork of prohibitions and requirements as they implement strategies to comply with state laws.

While many of the new laws continue to target certain consumer product categories, including cosmetics, textiles, apparel, cookware, household cleaning products, and products for children, an increasing number of states are regulating broader categories of products. National retailers, distributors, and consumer product manufacturers will need to continue to monitor state PFAS regulations to ensure compliance.

COLORADO[1]

Following the implementation of disclosure requirements and bans on intentionally added PFAS in consumer products in 2024 and 2025 under Colorado’s Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Consumer Protection Act,^[2] additional consumer product prohibitions on PFAS became effective in Colorado in the new year. On or after January 1, 2026, no person shall sell or distribute the following products with intentionally added PFAS:[3]

• Cleaning products
• Cookware
• Dental floss
• Menstruation products
• Ski wax

The installation of artificial turf containing intentionally added PFAS is also prohibited. Additional PFAS prohibitions for other products, including outdoor upholstered furniture and textile articles and food equipment, become effective January 1, 2027 and January 1, 2028, respectively.

These prohibitions add to Colorado’s existing PFAS regulations impacting carpets or rugs, fabric treatments, food packaging, juvenile products, oil and gas products, cookware, cosmetics, indoor textile furnishings, indoor upholstered furniture, and outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions.

CONNECTICUT[4]

On or after January 1, 2026, no person may distribute, sell, or offer for sale outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions that contains PFAS unless there is a disclosure statement on the product. Similarly, starting January 1, 2026, a person selling firefighting turnout gear containing intentionally added PFAS must provide written notice to the purchaser that the product contains PFAS and its purpose in the product.

Beginning July 1, 2026, no person shall distribute, sell, or offer for sale the following products with intentionally added PFAS:[5]

• Apparel
• Carpet or rug
• Cleaning product
• Cookware
• Cosmetic product[6]
• Dental floss
• Fabric treatment
• Children’s product
• Menstruation product
• Textile furnishing
• Ski wax
• Upholstered furniture

Such products may continue to be sold or distributed only if Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection receives prior notification in writing. These regulations supplement Connecticut’s existing prohibition on intentionally added PFAS in food packaging and firefighting foam.[7]

Additional PFAS prohibitions for other products, including turnout gear and outdoor apparel for severe wet conditions, become effective January 1, 2028.

MAINE[8]

Beginning January 1, 2026, the following products containing intentionally added PFAS cannot be sold in the state:

• Cleaning products
• Cookware
• Cosmetics
• Dental floss
• Juvenile products
• Menstruation products
• Textile articles
• Ski wax
• Upholstered furniture

These regulations join Maine’s existing prohibition on intentionally added PFAS in food packaging, provided there is a safer alternative to the use of PFAS available, as well as Maine’s prohibition on PFAS in firefighting foam.[9] In 2024, Maine amended prior legislation requiring PFAS notifications to the state across all consumer products. Maine currently only requires reporting for certain product categories that receive a Currently Unavoidable Use (CUU) determination from the state. CUU proposals for newly prohibited product categories were due to the state on June 1, 2025.

MINNESOTA[10]

Following the PFAS prohibitions in consumer products[11] that became effective last year, manufacturers face several new product reporting requirements in 2026. These requirements are under Minnesota’s Amara’s law, which implements a broad range of PFAS restrictions and reporting requirements between 2025–2032.[12]

After a delay from the initial January 1 deadline, manufacturers of any product sold, offered for sale, or distributed in Minnesota that contains intentionally added PFAS must submit a report to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency by July 1, 2025. The reporting rule requires product manufacturers to provide a description of the product, the PFAS used in the product, the concentrations of PFAS in the product, the function of the PFAS in the product, and information regarding the manufacturer, including contact information. 

The reporting includes substantial due diligence. Extensions to the reporting deadline may be granted under certain circumstances. Parties potentially subject to reporting in Minnesota should also investigate potential waivers, exemptions, and submission procedures for protecting trade secrets.

VERMONT[13]

Beginning January 1, 2026, a manufacturer may not manufacture, sell, or distribute the following products to which PFAS have been intentionally added in any amount:

• Aftermarket stain and water-resistant treatments
• Artificial turf
• Incontinency protection products
• Juvenile products
• Residential rugs and carpets
• Ski wax

Additionally, a manufacturer may not manufacture, sell, or distribute textiles or textile articles to which regulated PFAS have been intentionally added. “Regulated PFAS” means the presence of PFAS in a product or product component at or above 100 parts per million as measured in total organic fluorine. This definition expires on July 1, 2027, after which the threshold level is reduced to 50 parts per million. Additional regulations on PFAS in firefighting foam become effective January 1, 2026.[14]

WASHINGTON[15]

Beginning January 1, 2026, a person manufacturing, selling, or distributing the following products that contain intentionally added PFAS must provide notice to Washington’s Department of Ecology:[16] Under the new law, manufacturers must identify and track intentionally added PFAS, including total organic fluorine concentrations that exceed 50 ppm in the following groups of products:

• Leather and textile furniture and furnishings intended for outdoor use
• Automotive waxes
• Apparel intended for extreme and extended use
• Footwear
• Gear for recreation and travel
• Cookware and kitchen supplies
• Floor waxes and polishes
• Firefighting personal protective equipment
• Hard surface sealers
• Ski waxes

Companies may avoid reporting requirements if they can provide “credible evidence” that levels of total organic fluorine above 50 ppm were not intentionally added. The first reports are due January 31, 2027. The only product prohibitions effective January 1, 2026, are for leather and textile furniture and furnishings intended for indoor use. Washington State also recently amended its regulations to ban intentionally added PFAS in cleaning products, apparel and accessories made from leather, natural textiles, synthetic textiles, or technical textiles, and automotive washes. Those prohibitions will become effective on January 1, 2027.

LOOKING AHEAD: CONSIDERATIONS FOR BUSINESSES

As these state prohibitions are implemented and additional reporting requirements and bans are enacted, businesses should monitor the regulatory landscape to help ensure compliance and minimize potential enforcement and litigation risk. Manufacturers should assess the potential for PFAS in affected products and their components in order to implement a compliance strategy that complies with applicable state laws where those products are sold. Distributors and retailers, in turn, need to work closely with manufacturers to ensure they identify applicable restrictions and prohibitions.

Businesses should pay particular attention to differing definitions of key terms in individual state-specific requirements. For example, certain products (like “textile articles” and “apparel,” or “juvenile products” and “children’s products”) may seem synonymous, but attention should be given to whether the definition of a covered product also contains that product’s internal components, or if it is limited to certain enumerated categories or a blanket restriction. And while most statutes have similarly broad definitions for “PFAS” and “intentionally added,” some states, like Vermont and California, also establish numerical thresholds (based on total organic fluorine levels), while others contain exceptions for products with a “technically unavoidable use” of PFAS or where the presence of PFAS is governed by federal law.

Finally, businesses should remain attentive to new legislation restricting PFAS in consumer products, including upcoming PFAS prohibitions taking effect in 2027 and beyond. For example:

• On January 12, 2026, New Jersey enacted the “Protecting Against Forever Chemicals Act,” S1042, which prohibits intentionally added PFAS in carpets, cookware, cosmetics, and food packaging beginning January 2028.
• New Hampshire prohibits intentionally added PFAS in carpets/rugs, cosmetics, textile treatments, feminine hygiene products, food packaging, juvenile products, upholstered furniture, textile furnishings, and waxes starting January 1, 2027.[17]
• Illinois’ PFAS Reduction Act[18] prohibits intentionally added PFAS in cosmetics, dental floss, juvenile products, menstrual products, and intimate apparel beginning January 1, 2032.

Attention to PFAS in consumer products continues to accelerate, with more states enacting similar prohibitions to the ones referenced discussed above.

For more information on PFAS prohibitions, refer to our previous LawFlash on cosmetics and our previous LawFlash on textiles and apparel. 

HOW WE CAN HELP

Our lawyers stand ready to advise businesses on these upcoming PFAS prohibitions, assisting them in ensuring their practices comply with these significant and novel requirements.