Recycling credits could be the answer to fridge crisis

The EU’s Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) regulation comes into force in January and will see CFC gases having to be recovered from fridge and freezer insulation foam before the equipment can be recycled in specialist facilities. There has been much concern over who will pay for the removal of CFCs from foam in fridges and with estimates putting the removal and processing figure at 20-40 per fridge, retailers have said that they will end their take-back schemes which would place an additional burden on local authorities.

But the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has now come up with a solution which could see retailers getting third party recycling credits. Third party recycling credits could be the only legal way to pay retailers for recycling fridges. But because it is a new idea the issue is now out of the hands of DEFRA officials and in the hands of the government's legal department.

Under the initiative, retailers would be able to receive recycling credits and this would mean that some of the additional costs would be absorbed by the government and retailers could be able to continue with their collection systems. Recyclers would not actually recycle the fridges themselves but the credit would go to the local authority to organise the recycling, which would probably be carried out at a metal recycling site.

But the amount of funding has yet to be decided and it is thought that the government has still not got an answer from the Treasury over the issue. If the funding solution were to go ahead a specific fridge recycling credit of as much as 30 per fridge could be introduced. But, industry experts said it was unlikely that DEFRA would be “generous enough” to set the credit as high as this and a much lower level was more likely.

A spokesman for DEFRA said: “Of course we recognise that it is an added burden for councils” and indicated that extra money could be allocated in the 2002/03 Revenue Support Grants. The provisional figures for the 2002/03 Revenue Support Grant funding will be announced for consultation in November or December and the funding will then be put out for consultation with the figures confirmed in January. The RSG is part of the Annual Standard Spending Assessment procedure.

Councils are likely receive the additional allocation in April and this money will help to pay for the removal of CFCs from foam in fridges. It is also thought that interim funding may be found by DEFRA to pay for storage before the Revenue Support Grant funding is allocated and before recycling facilities are set up.