A spokesman for the Environment Agency said that interested organisations have only got until Monday to comment on the standards but he explained that the draft standards had been produced in consultation with stakeholders.
Mr Meacher, who has faced a large amount of criticism over the fridge recycling crisis, is eager to get the standards sorted so that fridges can begin to be processed and the fridge mountain can be reduced.
A spokesman for the agency explained that Mr Meacher wanted a quick consultation period so that the standards can be finalised next week. He said: “Hopefully there will be only minor changes and we can start issuing licences after Easter.”
The guidelines cover the recovery of ozone depleting substances, standard licence conditions, draft licence conditions that apply to mobile destruction units and regulatory guidance notes.
The guidance confirms that licence conditions require the removal of foodstuffs and loose material, cleaning, removal or securing of doors (pre-treatment) before the fridge is put into storage. And the pre-treatment and storage must be undertaken on a impermeable surface. Once the pre-treatment has been undertaken, the fridge can be moved to hard-standing for short term storage. But when fridges are stored for more than one year, the fridge must be drained of refrigerant and lubricating oil on an impermeable surface.
Draft guidance on the recovery and disposal of ODS in fridges states that practitioners should be achieving an ODS loss of 15-25g per fridge/freezer.
Environment Agency environment protection manager Alun James said: “The draft standards clarify the environmental safeguards that must apply to processing of ODS from fridges and freezers. Following a short public consultation, we will publish firm standards and operators who can meet the requirements can then be licensed to deal with the backlog of old mobile plant and plants operating in the summer will be subject to the same standards and licensing regimes, will be operating sooner.”
For the full draft guidance visit the Environment Agency's website. Comments should be sent to Mark Malehamby the end of March 25.
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