Several European countries accelerate climate change and damage the ozone layer by improper disposal of old refrigerators, environmental organisations DUH, ECOS and EEB reveal

Brussels (ots) - 19 million cooling and freezing appliances (CFAs)
discarded in Europe every year have a greenhouse warming potential of
up to 26 million tonnes of CO2 - Incorrect treatment in Finland,
Germany, Greece and Sweden poses a threat to European climate
protection goals - Environmental NGOs urge EU Member States to use
the requirements of the European standards for treatment of old CFAs
in national legislation as already done in countries such as Austria,
Ireland or the Netherlands

About 19 million cooling and freezing appliances (CFAs) are
discarded every year in Europe. Nearly half of these appliances still
contain coolants and propellants like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs),
which, if released into the environment, destroy the ozone layer and
accelerate global warming. Altogether, CFAs disposed of every year in
Europe have a greenhouse warming potential of up to 26 million tonnes
CO2 equivalent - much of it is released into the atmosphere by
improper disposal operations.

Research of Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe -
DUH), the European Environmental Citizens' Organisation for
Standardisation (ECOS) and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
shows problematic uneven waste management practices in the treatment
of old CFAs across Europe, endangering climate protection goals and
ozone layer recovery.

"One single refrigerator with CFCs can speed up climate change as
much as 2.8 tonnes of CO2. This equals the CO2 emissions of a
medium-sized passenger car within one year. Even if a refrigerator is
returned to an official collection point, you cannot be sure that it
is treated correctly in all EU countries. Particularly in Germany,
Greece, Finland and Sweden, we have evidence that minimum quality
standards are not met. These governments must act now to stop further
unnecessary damage to our planet", says DUH Executive Director Jürgen
Resch.

The three NGOs therefore call on EU Member States to harmonise the
treatment of CFAs in their legislation to the highest common
denominator. One easy way to do so would be to make the requirements
of the European quality standards EN 50625-2-3 and technical
specification TS 50625-3-4 mandatory in national waste legislation.
These standards for instance require treatment operators of CFAs to
provide a detailed material flow balance and to prove that they meet
the minimum recovery targets of 90 percent of contained CFCs.

Such legal obligation is already set by Austria, France, Ireland
and the Netherlands, which have made the EN standards' requirements
mandatory. "By referencing high treatment standards for the recycling
of cooling and freezing appliances in legislation and safeguarding
their compliance with reliable audits, large amounts of CO2 emissions
could be saved in a simple way and without expensive funding
programmes", states Stéphane Arditi, Policy Manager at EEB.

Mathilde Crêpy, Programme Manager at ECOS adds: "Although
standards are often developed by industry alone, these treatment
standards were successfully drafted in close cooperation with ECOS
and DUH. We now urge legislators to use these standards to set
ambitious legally-binding requirements for handling cooling and
freezing appliances and help reach EU climate objectives."

In Greece, correspondence with the take back system Appliance
Recycling S.A. and the operators shows that treatment plants receive
CFAs while not meeting audits based on the standards. This is a clear
sign that less than the necessary 90 percent of coolants and
propellants are recovered. "The Greek government and Appliance
Recycling need to stop this practice immediately", says Philipp
Sommer, Deputy Head of Circular Economy at DUH.

In Germany, producers of CFAs - responsible for a proper treatment
- supply operators with CFAs without providing evidence that the
operators are compliant with the EN standards. In several cases,
operators do not recover sufficient quantities of CFCs from the
isolation material or simply claim water to be recovered CFCs.
Currently, the German government is planning to stipulate elements of
the EN standards in a weak administrative regulation, which will take
5 years to be effective and allows for exemptions at any time.

Finally, the Swedish take back system El Kretsen AB supplies one
or more operators with CFA although they are illegally releasing
volatile hydrocarbons into the atmosphere. This is against Directive
2012/19/EU and can lead to significant emissions of CFCs. "We also
have evidence that several Finnish treatment plants process CFAs in
open shredders. We informed the authorities about this breach of
European law, but for the time being these unacceptable treatment
practices continue", adds Sommer.

More information:

Map highlighting discrepancies in the treatment standards for CFAs
in Europe: http://l.duh.de/p181107

Briefing Paper in German and English:
https://www.duh.de/kuehlgeraete.html

Information on refrigerants from ECOS:
http://www.ecostandard.org/category/refrigerants/

Background:

The European standard EN 50625-2-3 (Collection, logistics &
treatment requirements for WEEE - Part 2-3: Treatment requirements
for temperature exchange equipment and other WEEE containing VFC
and/or VHC) and the associated Technical Specification TS 50625-3-4
were developed in response to a Mandate of the European Commission,
M/518, in support of Directive 2012/19/EU on Waste Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (WEEE). DUH, ECOS and EEB consider that these
treatment standards describe the technical state-of-the-art for
treating CFAs in an environmentally-sound manner.

Pressekontakt:
Jürgen Resch, Executive Director DUH,
+49 171 3649170, resch@duh.de

Philipp Sommer, Deputy Head of Circular Economy DUH,
+49 30 2400867-462, sommer@duh.de

Mathilde Crêpy, Programme Manager ECOS,
+32 2 89446-58, mathilde.crepy@ecostandard.org

Stéphane Arditi, Policy Manager EEB,
+33 6 40639772, stephane.arditi@eeb.org

DUH Press Office:

Andrea Kuper, Ann-Kathrin Marggraf
+49 30 2400867-20, presse@duh.de

www.duh.de, www.twitter.com/umwelthilfe, www.facebook.com/umwelthilfe

Original-Content von: Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V., übermittelt durch news aktuell