§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the principal factors behind failures to recover all potential ozone depleting substances from refrigeration units. [187022]
§ Mr. MorleyA significant but highly variable proportion of the original ozone depleting substance (ODS) within a refrigerant unit will have been lost during the working life of the appliance. The failure of the coolant system and consequent loss of ODS is one of the reasons why refrigeration units may be discarded by householders.
The licence conditions for storage and treatment facilities of refrigeration units include measures that will minimise the loss of ODS, but further losses may occur during the extraction of the coolant (known as phase 1 degassing), as even the best equipment and procedures will not remove 100 per cent. of the coolant. Other sources of loss may include inappropriate transportation/handling or accidents/vandalism at storage facilities.
§ Sue DoughtyTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) how much CFC12 has been recovered from(a) refrigeration circuits and(b) refrigeration unit foams since European Council Regulation No. 2037/2000 came into force; [187023]
(2) how much CFC11 has been recovered from refrigeration unit foams since European Council Regulation No. 2037/2000 came into force. [187024]
§ Mr. MorleyThe information on CFCs is not held in the form requested, as the data on the recovery of ozone depleting substances (ODS) does not distinguish between the type of ODS, or the equipment from which it was recovered.
The following information is provided.
The total amount of ODS including CFCs recovered from all equipment was:
387 tonnes in 2002 and;494 tonnes in 2003.In addition, a significant number of refrigerators leave the UK for treatment— 418,000 in 2002 and 377,000 in 2003—and it will fall to the receiving EU state to recover the associated ODS, and report upon it.