Cutting-edge gas recycling to roll-out across South Africa

Cutting-edge gas recycling to roll out

ACROSS SOUTH AFRICA

Reclite SA has formed a strategic partnership with A-Gas to invest in a high-tech plant to recover refrigerant gases for reuse from disposable refrigerant cylinders, scrapped domestic and commercial refrigerators, freezers, and air-conditioning systems.

eclite SA is a leading South

RAfrican waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling company and the first WEEE recycler in the country to implement its environmentally responsible refrigerant recovery service.

“We have launched this exciting service at our Germiston facility in Gauteng and will roll it out to our branches in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal next,” says Steffen Schröder, technical director, Reclite SA. Thereafter, the plan is to go nationwide.

“Reclite SA is fully licensed and legally compliant according the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s National Environmental Management: Waste Act (No. 59 of 2008). And in September this year, we celebrated achieving 97.5% compliance in an audit conducted in line with international Cenelec standards.”

This initiative supports A-Gas’ purpose to protect and enhance the environment by reducing global warming gases and preventing their release into the atmosphere.

Targeting zero

“Our ‘Towards Zero, Together’ initiative encapsulates our purpose and puts it in action” says Carte Lubbe, managing director, A-Gas.

“We are committed to targeting zero in every aspect of work that we carry out worldwide. ‘Towards Zero, Together’ encompasses our dedication to staying safe, protecting our environment, and preventing emissions leaking into the atmosphere.” For A-Gas, targeting zero means: • Zero Harm – striving for zero harm in all the company does so everyone can go home after work in the same condition they arrived in. • Zero Leaks – committing to targeting zero leaks to the atmosphere to protect each other and the environment. • Zero Carbon – striving to achieve a zero carbon footprint at all its locations across the group. “For almost 30 years, we have helped customers globally to achieve their environmental goals while ensuring we target zero and protect the environment,” says Lubbe. “A major challenge in the refrigerant industry is what happens to

We need new ways of designing, producing, consuming and disposing of products. Reclite SA aims to be the industry leader in environmental, health and safety performance with regard to waste electrical and electronic equipment management.”

Steffen Schröder, Technical Director, Reclite SA

Fast facts you need to know:

• Historically, CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) have been widely used as refrigerants, propellants (in aerosol applications) and solvents. CFCs contribute to ozone depletion and their manufacture has been phased out under the Montreal Protocol, in favour of products such as HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons). • Recycling disused temperature exchange equipment – i.e. appliances such as domestic and commercial refrigerators, freezers and air-conditioning systems – is essential for protecting the climate and the ozone layer. • Poorly designed/maintained installations or refrigeration and heat exchange units abandoned as waste can lead to emissions into the atmosphere. These emissions have a direct impact on climate change. • Heat exchangers and compressor systems are not the only products that contain climate-changing gases – the foam insulation found in this equipment does too. • CFCs contained in older compressors and polyurethane insulation foams, as well as HFCs now replacing these products, must be removed from the flow of waste appliances and heat exchange equipment due to their ozone depletion or global warming potential. • Global warming potential is an index that relates the potency of a greenhouse gas to that of carbon dioxide.

Using this index, an emission of one kilogram of a refrigerant such as HFC-134a would have the same impact over 100 years as an emission of 1 300 kg of CO2.

the gases when they are no longer required. By recovering, reclaiming and repurposing refrigerant gases, we are reducing the risk of unnecessary and harmful gases being released into the atmosphere.”

Towards a circular economy

One of Reclite SA’s key objectives is to contribute to circular economy principles and to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, confirms Schröder.

He adds: “Our belief is that quality engagement with the whole value chain – customers, contractors, suppliers, our partners, communities and all stakeholders – is essential to realising robust relationships and is fundamental to Reclite SA’s long-term success.” In a circular economy, natural resources are reused again and again without ever ending up in waste landfill sites nor being dumped at sea. Globally, people, governments, universities and companies are looking at ways to make economies more ‘circular’. Achieving this means waste that is generated becomes new material for new products.

Says Schröder: “This means we need new ways of designing, producing, consuming and disposing of products. Reclite SA aims to be the industry leader in environmental, health and safety performance with regard to WEEE management. This strategic partnership with A-Gas is one more step in that direction.” Lubbe adds: “Refrigeration and air conditioning are critical parts of the way we live. A-Gas plays a crucial role in this and people around the world come into contact with our products every day – at the supermarket and in their cars, offices and homes. This makes our partnership with Reclite SA truly symbiotic in this respect and presents an exciting future for both companies and Reclite SA customers.”

Schröder concludes: “The climate is changing, and we all have a part to play in protecting our planet. Achieving net zero is an incredibly ambitious target, which we cannot achieve alone – but together, we can.”