Disposal of Fridges and Freezers (Hansard, 20 December 2001)

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, my department has published an information leaflet for consumers advising them how to dispose of their old fridges and freezers safely. The leaflet has also been posted on my department's website and has been widely circulated electronically to retailers, including small businesses dealing in white goods, trade associations and local 352 authorities. We have asked retailers to place copies of the leaflet in their shops and to give them to customers buying a new fridge.

§ The Earl of Northesk
My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply. Can he afford further comfort to consumers on this matter by advising the House how far advanced plans are to provide a recycling plant to deal with the problem? Can he further advise the House on the availability in the UK of appropriately trained mechanics qualified to remove all the CFCs from fridges and freezers?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, the problem is not the availability of appropriately skilled labour, but rather the availability of a dedicated plant to remove CFCs from the foam within fridges. Part of the problem has been that, until a few months ago, we did not believe that the European directive required the removal of CFCs from the foam as distinct from the coolant contained in fridges. As yet there is no capability available in the United Kingdom for delivering the removal of foam. Therefore, there will be a burden on local authorities in particular as regards the storage of fridges and freezers until such facilities come on stream. We are in contact with a number of potential investors in such plant. The expertise is already in place because plants of this kind are already operating on the Continent.

§ Lord Greaves
My Lords, the decision that the regulation should apply to domestic fridges was first made in February 2000 at the Environment Council. That decision was confirmed in June 2000 when the regulation was approved. The regulation is clear and the Government cannot wriggle out of the obligation by suggesting that they did not understand it. Paragraph 16.2 states: Controlled substances contained in domestic refrigerators and freezers shall be recovered and dealt with as provided for in paragraph 1 after 31st December 2001". Why has it taken the Government 18 months since the regulation was first approved to issue guidance and to set standards for the recovery of this material? Was it simply that the Government forgot about the problem, forgot what they had agreed to, did not understand what they had agreed to, or were simply negligent? Is this not an instance where the Government should stop trying to defend the indefensible? They should hold up their hands and say, "Sorry, we made a mistake. We are human, after all. We made a botch of it".

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, in this festive season I am perfectly prepared to accept that the Government are human. However, this is a complex matter. It is certainly true to say that some serious clarification has had to be made as regards exactly what was meant in the regulation. I am due to respond to a Written Question tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves. I shall give the full sequence of events in my Answer. However, the fact remains that, as late as February of last year, the Commission circulated a table of 353 clarification on what the directive meant which stated that it did not cover foams. That clarification was in line with the intentions of the directive at that time.
However, subsequently and after much badgering by the British Government to have further clarification, in June of this year the European Commission provided a final interpretation which indicated that the regulation did in fact require the recovery of controlled substances from insulating foam. Having received that clarification, the Government have attempted to deal with retailers and with local authorities.
I do not minimise the fact that there is now a problem. Virtually all retailers have ceased to take back old fridges, which has been the traditional way of disposing of around 40 per cent of the market. There is therefore an additional burden on local authorities, as well as an additional danger of fridges being dumped. The Government and local authorities are trying to deal with the issue. We have announced that additional resources are to be made available to local authorities to do so.

§ Baroness Fookes
My Lords, the Minister waved a leaflet which contains guidance on this matter. What does it actually say?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, it explains that local authorities are responsible for removing fridges. They can charge for that service. Some do and some do not. As regards the disposal of an old fridge, the appliance can be taken to a local civic amenity site for disposal free of charge or it is possible to arrange for the fridge to be collected. As I have said, some local authorities will charge for that service. The leaflet further explains that the new law will come into force from 1st January 2002, stating that the CFCs and HCFCs in old refrigerators and freezers must be removed. Of course, newer fridges will not contain such material. Generally speaking, it is the older fridges that are being disposed of.

§ Lord McNally
My Lords, I declare an interest as an adviser to the electrical equipment manufacturers' section of the Federation of Electronic Industries. Is the Minister aware of a time-bomb ticking away in Brussels that is wonderfully entitled the WEEE directive? It will bring forward further responsibilities as regards the disposal of waste electrical equipment. Is the Minister confident that the balance of responsibility between the consumer, the retailer and the manufacturer has been set correctly in the directive? Are the Government better prepared for the WEEE directive than they were for the disposal of fridges?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, I think so. We are aware of that body and we are consulting with the various trade associations, including the one to which the noble Lord has referred. The WEEE directive will not come fully into effect until 2004. Therefore, we have time to prepare retailers and manufacturers for the move to 354 what in effect will be producer responsibility, although clearly it will have an effect on distribution as well as on price.

§ Lord Blackwell
My Lords, I declare an interest as a director of a major retailer of white goods. Will the Minister step aside from his brief and recognise the problem to be faced here? Does he accept that the Government's response is totally inadequate, given both the size and the urgency of the problem that he has spelt out?
The noble Lord mentioned the problem of the disposal of fridges. Did the noble Lord see the BBC news report last night which stated that, over the past year, the fly-tipping of waste has already increased by 30 per cent as a result of the landfill tax? This regulation will add considerably to the problem. Does the Minister accept that, given that no recycling capacity is available in the UK, the only short-term way to deal with these fridges if they are not to be fly-tipped is to have legally licensed storage space? Does he agree that the figure of £6 million that he mentioned in regard to aid for local authorities is totally inadequate when one bears in mind that an estimated 3 million fridges will be returned next year? There is no way in which retailers can take back that number of fridges without storage facilities. Retailers have no way of creating such storage space unless they choose to break the law and set up unlicensed sites which are not legally licensed and approved. There is no room for the fridges.

Noble Lords
Order!

§ Lord Blackwell
My Lords, should not the Government grasp the problem and put in place the capacity for these fridges to be stored?

§ Lord Whitty
My Lords, I have accepted that there is a problem as regards the disposal, dumping and storage of fridges, but I do not think that a whole new system of licensing for storage arrangements would be necessary. I believe that we shall have on stream the capacity to deal with the problem. The plant concerned is not very complicated; it is simply that no such plant is currently available in the United Kingdom. In the meantime of course a burden has been put on local authorities and other storage facilities. The money that we have allocated to local authorities is to meet that immediate problem. If the difficulties persist, then clearly there will be a further funding issue for local authorities which we will address. However, we have dealt with the immediate problem.
I certainly accept that this is not the tidiest of situations and that there are dangers involved. However, we have made local authorities aware of the problem and provided information to retailers. It is now important for consumers themselves to be informed.