BOSTON — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the extension of the deadline to evaluate proposals received for the Reducing Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Concentrations and/or Toxicity in Soil and Sediment at the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site Challenge due to the number of proposals submitted.

 

A total of 98 solutions were received from 40 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Jamaica, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Russia, Czechia, Switzerland, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Spain, Morocco, Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Algeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Oman, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, India, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Australia, and Japan.

 

The judging panel, which does not include the EPA Site Case Team, is moving 48 solutions forward. Solution quality was determined by Wazoku, a national contractor who implements Challenges for the Federal Government. Due to the number of responses from contributors and to provide adequate review time by the judging panel, the Challenge judging period is being extended to Feb. 10, 2025.

 

The EPA launched the Reducing Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Concentrations and/or Toxicity in Soil and Sediment at the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site Challenge in September 2024. In the 2020 Settlement Agreement EPA agreed to "facilitate opportunities for research and testing of innovative treatment and other technologies and approaches for reducing PCB toxicity and/or concentrations in excavated soil and/or sediment before, during, or after disposal in a landfill."

 

An inexpensive and efficient method for reducing PCB concentrations and/or toxicity in soil and sediment could greatly benefit cleanups of all PCB contaminated sites.

 

The Challenge was posted for approximately 60 days and initially involved a 30-day evaluation period, originally ending on December 12, 2024.

 

The entries are evaluated by a panel of judges comprised of both federal representatives, academia, and private community member(s). The best solutions in this Prize Challenge could win an award of $30,000 for meeting all solution requirements.

 

The initial phase, Phase 1, of this Challenge is the ideation phase. If Phase 1 of the Challenge successfully identifies a vendor (or vendors) who have proposed promising and practical solutions, then those vendors would be selected as winners of Phase 1 of the Challenge. EPA may then proceed to Phase 2, the proof-of-concept phase. The proof-of-concept Phase would likely include a pilot or bench scale testing of the technology. 

 

Although funded by EPA Region 1, the EPA Case Team for the GE-Pittsfield/Housatonic River Site will not participate in the Challenge process or the judging of submitted entries.

 

EPA supports the use and implementation of applicable technologies to reduce PCB concentrations and toxicity. If both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Challenge successfully identify a cost-effective solution that will make a real difference in the cleanup, EPA Region 1 commits to considering the applicability of the solution to the cleanup potentially through the Final Permit's adaptive management provisions or other Permit/Consent Decree provisions.