DENR to sign contract with private company for CFC recovery program

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has decided to partner with a private firm in its effort to rid the country of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other ozone-depleting substances.

As part of the national celebration of International Ozone Day, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje will sign today a contract with Delsa Chemicals and Multi-Products, a major importer and distributor of refrigerants nationwide.

“The recovery program for refrigerants is an important component of our National CFC Phaseout Plan (NCPP). The intention here is to assist service shops of refrigerators, air conditioners and chillers, recover their refrigerants instead of just venting or releasing them into the atmosphere, which we now know is bad for our ozone layer,” Paje said in a statement.

Paje said Delsa Chemicals is being contracted to implement the CFC recovery program through the collection, transport and storage of recovered refrigerants from service shops and chiller owners and by providing the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) a monthly report on the recovered ozone-depleting substances.

According to the NCPP Project Management Unit of the EMB-Philippine Ozone Desk, an estimated two tons of recovered refrigerants will be collected monthly from service shops all over the country.

The Philippines ratified the Montreal Protocol on March 21, 1991 and committed to gradually reduce and eventually eliminate its consumption of ozone-depleting substances.

The country started to limit importation of CFCs in 1999 and implemented a quota system for CFCs since then.

The government banned the importation of CFC-11 in 2005, and also prohibited the importation of all CFCs, including CFC 12 or R-12, a widely used refrigerant in the country, starting last Jan. 1.

Since Jan. 1, 2007, the EMB-Philippine Ozone Desk said CFC consumption in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector has been reduced from 1,079 tons to 453 tons.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is a multi-lateral environmental agreement forged on Sept. 16, 1987. It is considered to be the most successful international agreement to date because 196 countries ratified it. –Michael Punongbayan (The Philippine Star)