Thousands of people living in the Dordrecht region are expected to sign up for a mass legal claim against chemical company Chemours following years of PFAS pollution, the AD reported on Wednesday.

Campaign group PFAS Vrij–Green Claim said residents from across the region will be able to join the action from Wednesday. The organisation wants the company to immediately stop PFAS emissions and to pay compensation to people living in the affected area.

PFAS are so-called “forever chemicals” that break down extremely slowly in the environment and have been linked to health and environmental risks.

The group plans to start a civil court case against Chemours, arguing that the company knowingly released PFAS into the environment for years. “We expect tens of thousands of people to sign up,” said foundation chairman Ben Knüppe.

The legal action is being organised with support from the Amsterdam law firm Kennedy Van der Laan and litigation funder Winward, which will cover the legal costs in return for a share of any eventual settlement.

Residents from 10 municipalities in the region will be able to register, including people living in Dordrecht, Papendrecht, Sliedrecht and Gorinchem. Participants will be asked to provide their postcode so the organisers can determine where they live and how they may have been exposed.

Board member Anneke van Veen told the paper the claim has two main goals. “We want PFAS emissions to stop immediately, both into the air and into the water,” she said. “As long as that continues, the problem will only get worse. And we also want a reasonable compensation for residents in the area.”

There have been other court cases about Chemours and in September 2023, lawyer Bénédicte Ficq opened mass legal proceedings against Chemours managers for knowingly releasing harmful chemicals into the environment for years.

In 2024, 11 campaign groups, including the fire brigade union, joined forces to take the government to court for failing to prevent pollution from PFAS.