More than 90% of refrigerators and freezers to be found in today’s waste streams were manufactured using chlorofluorocarbons or hydrofluorocarbons as cooling agents that are located in the appliance’s compressor circle. When compressors are manually dismantled without prior degasification of the circle, these gases are released to the atmosphere. The amount of gas typically contained in a refrigerator varies between 80 grams and 130 grams, propelling global warming with up to 1300 kg CO2-equivalents per appliance when being released.

Responsible end-of-life management means capture and destruction of these gases. Your service partner should be able to list the amount and type of gas captured during recycling of appliances as well as the fate of the captured gases. Although the production and import of chlorofluorocarbons was prohibited in Brazil as of January 1st 2010 due to the tremendously detrimental environmental impact of these gases, resale for reuse is still legally possible. Not being able to provide verified destruction certificates for these gases most likely means these gases were or at some point will be released to the atmosphere, causing global warming on your behalf.

More than 80% of refrigerators and freezers in today’s waste streams were manufactured using chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons as blowing agents for the insulation foam that makes part of a cooling appliance’s body. When shredding or land filling these refrigerator bodies, these gases are directly or eventually released to the atmosphere. The amount of gas typically contained in one refrigerator insulation varies between 250 grams and 500 grams, propelling global warming with up to 2300 kg CO2-equivalents per appliance when being released. This is in the magnitude of the annual greenhouse gas emissions of a car.

A responsible appliance recycler captures, separates, and destroys these gases. Your service partner should be able to list the amount and type of gases captured per refrigerator insulation as well as the fate of the captured gases. If your service partner works with a licensed destruction facility, he is capable to provide a destruction certificate for the amount of gases captured, ideally verified by independent third party auditors. Not being able to provide verified destruction certificates most likely means gases have been released to the atmosphere, causing global warming on your behalf.

The major amount of materials contained in refrigerators and freezers can be recycled, based on proper sorting of ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, plastics, and other remaining components. However, some old appliances contain mercury switches or PCB-containing capacitors that need to be carefully removed and provided an appropriate disposal destination.

A responsible appliance recycler should be able to feed more than 90% of the refrigerator and freezer waste input material into secondary raw material streams. For verification purposes, a mass balance sheet should be requested which provides information on recycling rates and the mass and destiny of removed hazardous components.