Shanks will take waste fridges and freezers to its High Temperature Incineration facilities at Fawley, Southampton and Pontypool, South Wales. The incinerators already process CFC liquid and will be able to remove the CFCs from foam as required under the ozone depleting substances (ODS) regulations which come into force on January 1.
Group chief executive Michael Averill, described the solution as “an innovative use of existing specialist facilities” and said: “From today we will have the ability to process some 3,000 fridges and freezers per week and we can see that capacity potentially rising substantially over the coming months.”
Shanks will use its normal destruction route for fridges which already remove CFC gases. The company will make use of its existing licensed sites to de-gas the units and remove recyclable components including motors and compressors. Once dismantled and de-gassed, the fridges – which will still contain foam – will be flat-packed and taken to a chemical incinerator. The foam containing the CFC/HFCs is driven off When incinerated and the CFCs are destroyed along with the collected gases. The remaining metal can be recovered for recycling.
John Shaughnessy, group head of external relations, said: “A lot of companies are talking about dealing with the fridges by the Spring and Summer but we can do something now.”
Mr Shaughnessy explained that Shanks has licensed sites around the country and can currently deal with 160,000 fridges a year. But the company is looking at increasing this by installing de-gassing facilities next to its incinerators which will increase throughput as the fridges will not have to be de-gassed and then transported. The gasses will also be fed straight into the incinerator for destruction.
Shanks has existing contracts with a number of local authorities and said that it will offer its fridge recycling service to these councils first and will talk to others if it has spare capacity.
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