Sorting errors in waste fridge disposal

The majority of European fridge recycling companies still attempt to sort waste refrigeration appliances into those containing CFCs and those that are CFC-free

This is an environmentally hazardous practice that needs to be stopped as soon as possible, as sorting errors are leading to environmentally unacceptable results.

A recent study by the Austrian company FHA demonstrates unequivocally that mis-sorting of refrigeration appliances occurs even at specialist recycling companies, and at levels that are environmentally unacceptable.

The solution to the mis-sorting problem, which was detailed in the life-cycle assessment (LCA) study published in March last year by the German environmental consultancy Oko-Institut, requires the joint processing of all types of refrigeration appliance in a single state-of-the-art recycling plant.

In light of the evidence now available, the RAL Quality Assurance Association believes that EU member states must act to prohibit the separate treatment of waste fridges and freezer appliances containing hydrocarbons ('HC appliances').

The Austrian study was part of a research project supervised by the Federal Ministry of the Environment in Vienna.

The study was carried out at an Austrian recycling company that already carries out joint processing.

For the purposes of the study, HC appliances were removed from the incoming waste stream and subjected to separate processing.

The plant operatives were instructed to remove only those appliances with R600a in the cooling circuit and cyclopentane in the foam insulation and to store these appliances separately.

These appliances were then examined by independent experts.

Sorting and separation were performed by trained members of the recycling company workforce.

However, they had not been informed that the purity of the sorted lots would be subsequently checked.

Plant managers were also not aware that quality testing would be carried out.

Once the HC appliances had been separated, the purity of the sorted lots was examined by staff from FHA, a Vienna-based company that specialises in chemical and technical analyses.

The study was monitored by statisticians at Vienna Technical University.

Examination of the sorted appliances showed that 1.6% of the appliances had been incorrectly sorted.

As more than 2000 'HC appliances' were removed from the incoming waste stream and subsequently examined, the sample size was large enough to ensure that the computed mis-sorting rate is statistically reliable.

The LCA published by Oko-Institut in March 2007 showed that even a CFC/HC sorting error rate of 1% would lead to unacceptably large quantities of CFCs entering the HC processing chain.

As HC appliances are still typically treated in an auto shredder or other non-encapsulated shredder, any CFC-containing appliances accidentally included in the HC-appliance stream would result in the CFCs being emitted to the atmosphere - an unnecessary and avoidable environmental hazard.

The 1% sorting error assumed by the experts at Oko-Institut was based on the scientifically established fact that human error is always present whenever people have to sort goods and products.

The sorting error of 1.6% established by the new FHA study provides independent and striking confirmation of the earlier assumption.

Now that both the Austrian and German governments have effectively established that HC-containing appliances should be recycled jointly with appliances containing CFCs, it is to be hoped that the environmental ministries in other EU member states will follow suit.

If the WEEE Directive and the national implementing regulations put in place by the EU member states are still regarded primarily as environmental legislation, then the widespread practice of attempting to separate CFC-containing refrigeration appliances from those containing HCs must stop.

The joint processing of all end-of-life refrigeration equipment has been technically realizable for some years and in the opinion of the RAL Quality Assurance Association this is the only environmentally justifiable approach to fridge recycling if environmental protection targets are to be taken seriously.

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