HL Deb 12 February 2002 vol 631 cc144-6WA
Baroness Ludford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress they are making in implementing European Regulation 2037/2000 on substances that depleted the ozone layer; and what work was carried out prior to December 2001 to prepare for the implementation of this regulation, especially with regard to fridges. [HL2609]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)

The EC Regulation 2037/2000 on substances that deplete the ozone layer covers a wide range of measures including controls on production, supply, imports, exports and uses of these substances. The regulation is directly applicable in UK law and therefore obligations fall directly on the industry sectors concerned. My department, together with the Department of Trade and Industry, has widely publicised the control measures and obligations that have been introduced through publications and regular contacts with the industries involved. We will shortly be introducing secondary legislation covering offences and penalties.

With regard to fridges in particular, there are a number options for dealing with waste fridges including reuse, export to other member states for treatment, disposal in the UK via high temperature incineration and storage pending treatment in the UK. Investors are in the process of providing a network of new recycling facilities in the United Kingdom. I understand that the first new facilities are likely to be operational in the spring.

Prior to December 2001, my department held a number of stakeholder meetings to facilitate the provision of disposal routes for waste fridges and freezers. Work to produce guidance on standards for the extraction of ODS from fridges was undertaken to enable the necessary investment decisions to be made. Guidance on the storage of fridges was developed and issued and an information leaflet advising householders how to dispose safely of fridges was distributed.

In order to enable the regulation to be correctly implemented, between February 1999 and mid 2001 UK officials repeatedly asked the Commission for formal clarification of the position of ODS in the insulating foam of refrigeration equipment. The occasions on which this was raised by the UK and other member states, either directly or implicitly during discussion of items for clarification, are as follows:

  • EC Regulation 3093/94 Management Committee meeting, 23 February 1999;
  • EC Regulation 3093/94 Management Committee meeting, 11 October 1999;
  • EC Regulation 3093/94 Management Committee meeting, I March 2000;
  • Margins of the Montreal Protocol meeting in Geneva, July 2000;
  • DETR letter to European Commission dated 11 September 2000;
  • EC Regulation 2037/2000 Management Committee meeting, 4-6 October 2000;
  • DETR letter to European Commission dated 30 January 2001;
  • EC Regulation 2037/2000 Management Committee meeting, 13-14 March 2001;
  • EC Regulation 2037/2000 Extraordinary Management Committee meeting, 11-12 June 2001.

EC Regulation 2037/2000 entered into force on 1 October 2000. In June 2001, the European Commission formally clarified that mandatory recovery and recycling also applied to ODS in fridge insulating foam as of 1 January 2002.