Tackling refrigerant gases is now a top priority under a new consultation document released by associate environment minister Eugenie Sage.
The Government is proposing new regulations when dealing with environmentally harmful products under the Waste Minimisation Act 2018.
This includes refrigerant gases at their end-of-life which relates to refrigeration and air conditioning in the motor vehicle industry.
Design of a regulated product stewardship scheme has already begun with the establishment of the Synthetic Refrigerant Stewardship Project earlier this year.
The initiative has received $137,000 in funding from the Waste Minimisation Fund and the Motor Trade Association (MTA) is among organisations giving its support.
The project’s work is being steered by a working group which represent the interests of key industries affected which also includes refrigerant wholesalers, manufacturers and distributors.
“Well-designed product stewardship schemes ensure that those making, selling and using products all help take responsibility to recover the materials and avoid them ending up in landfills,” Sage says.
“This is the first time that government has been serious about creating regulated, rather than voluntary, product stewardship schemes in New Zealand.
“Like other countries, New Zealand’s economy is based on a ‘take, make and dispose’ model, which treats nature and the resources it provides as ‘free’ and disposable. Regulated product stewardship is a step towards changing that and to designing waste out of production. This is part of a longer-term goal of moving to a more efficient, low-emissions, sustainable and inclusive economy for New Zealand.
“Regulated product stewardship helps puts the responsibility for effective material and waste management on product manufacturers, importers, retailers and users, rather than on communities, councils, neighbourhoods and nature,” she says.
Project manager Darren Patterson, of 3R Group, says controlling refrigerant gases is vital to tackling climate change as, once released into the atmosphere, they are between a thousand and nine-thousand times more potent than carbon.
“It’s therefore vital all refrigerants are correctly installed, maintained, collected and destroyed or reused to minimise this risk,” he says.
“Co-designed regulated product stewardship with product controls requires the whole of industry from those that import through to installers and those involved in managing the gases at end of life to participate which will ensure sufficient funds are available to do this.”
Product stewardship sees importers and retailers take responsibility for their products and ensure they are re-used, recycled or properly disposed of at the end of their useful life.
Under the Waste Minimisation Act, a product may be declared a priority product by the Minister for the Environment.
The voluntary stewardship scheme for refrigerants, Recovery, has been operating in New Zealand since 1993. However, not all refrigerant importers are included, such as those which import pre-charged refrigerant units like fridges, heat pumps and air conditioning units for vehicles.
As a result, there is insufficient funding to deal with the mounting end of life refrigerant bank, Patterson says.
“Those companies which contribute voluntarily to the scheme end up subsidising those that don’t, as it’s not possible to distinguish between levied and unlevied refrigerants when it comes to disposal.”
Recovery programme manager John Bowen says it’s “vital we have all the players involved to make the scheme as effective as possible”.
“Declaration of refrigerants and other synthetic greenhouse gases as a priority product with a co-designed and regulated scheme with product controls levels the playing field as all companies would be required to participate.”
Bowen says both industry and the public will be widely consulted to ensure the impact of a priority product declaration for synthetic refrigerant gases is understood.
*Go to refrigerantstewardship.co.nz for more information.
