Waste Management Act

The Waste Management Act

The Waste Management Act, Ozone Depleting Substances, which came into effect recently, has important implications for all users of air conditioning and refrigeration. The act prohibits the release of an ozone depleting substance into the environment and also will not allow an ozone depleting substance to be added to a system which is leaking.

It also restricts the handling of refrigerants to qualified and trained people.

What does this mean to the user?

Many times when a system had a leak, it was cheaper to 'top up' the refrigerant periodically than to spend hours looking for small leaks. This can not be done anymore, as leaks must be found and repaired before refrigerant can be added.

On small systems when components needed to be changed, the refrigerant was often simply vented into the atmosphere. Now, a system must be pumped down and isolated if possible or the whole charge removed from the system using an approved pump or reclaim device. This obviously has a serious impact on labour costs.

All technicians servicing equipment must be complete and environmental awareness course and contractors and wholesalers handling refrigerants must now keep detailed logs of sale and usage of refrigerants. This puts extra burdens and hence extra costs on all involved.

Some refrigerants are also being phased out. R-12 which is used in many medium temperature cold rooms and refrigerators is no longer manufactured.

Alternative refrigerants which are more environmentally friendly are now available but their use usually involves modifications to the system.

If you use R-12 in your systems, it will pay to plan ahead and take steps now to change to an alternate refrigerant.

If you are not sure which refrigerant is used in your systems, ask our service technician to advise you or contact the service department at Broadway for assistance.