German statement on refrigeration recycling

A RAL: Quality Assurance Association product story

Edited by the Processingtalk editorial team Aug 1, 2007

The German Federal Government has made a precise statement on the issue of recycling used refrigeration equipment containing hydrocarbons and CFCs

The Federal Government has announced that a correct separation (sorting) during collecting and disposing of the refrigerators containing hydrocarbons and CFCs cannot be ensured.

From the point-of-view of the Federal Government, due to this circumstance, a "joint collection and disposal of all used refrigerators in suitable plants is indicated".

The RAL Quality Assurance Association for the Demanufacture of Refrigeration Equipment Containing CFCs appreciates this precise statement made by the Federal Government, because it will bring about a sustained improvement of the ecological situation in Germany.

With regard to the issue of recycling used refrigeration equipment, the environmental performance evaluation published by the Oko - Institut e.V this March made it clear that in the case of waste appliances being sorted, a diversion of CFC devices into the "HC path" (autoshredders or parallel operation) would be associated with ecological disadvantages of an unjustifiable extent.

The CFCs contained in mis-sorted devices would be released and emitted unhamperedly into the atmosphere.

The Federal Government obviously based its reply to the minor inquiry of representatives from the Bundnis 90/die Grunen parliamentary group on this state of knowledge and made allowances correspondingly.

The RAL Quality Assurance Association appreciates this clarification on the part of the Federal Government, because it sets an unmistakable ecological course and, moreover, creates planning reliability for the future handling of refrigerator recycling for all manufacturers and recycling corporations in Germany.

The statement also makes it clear that sorting out the HC devices for treating them in normal autoshredders is definitely excluded from now on.

From the point-of-view of the RAL Quality Assurance Association for the Demanufacture of Refrigeration Equipment Containing CFCs, the government statement is another step towards standardising the German practice in recycling waste refrigeration appliances, also for the permit and control authorities in the federal states.