End-of-life vehicles proposal must reflect importance of  refrigerants

The Australian automotive industry is taking a proactive approach to environmental responsibility, with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) and Motor Trades Association of Australia (MTAA) securing a $1 million grant to develop a national product stewardship scheme for end-of-life vehicles (ELV).

However, publicity surrounding the announcement – including a study into ELV stewardship commissioned and published by the FCAI and MTAA – makes only passing reference to refrigerants (in an infographic where it is labelled air-con gas), for which proper recovery and disposal is not only mandatory but essential if Australia is to meet climate goals, as well as being aligned with the broader industry’s desire to promote a circular economy, and boost the vehicle recycling industry’s financial viability.

SightGlass understands the organisations involved in this initiative have so far not responded to offers of expertise from the refrigerant sector when it comes to ELVs.

Funded by the Australian federal government’s Product Stewardship Innovation Fund, the ELV initiative aims to address the growing challenge of responsibly managing discarded vehicles and their components.

Australia currently has approximately 20.7 million vehicles on the road, with an average age close to 11 years, leading to an increasing number of vehicles reaching their end-of-life, currently estimated at 850,000 annually.

This growing challenge of motor vehicle waste is compounded by the complex composition of vehicles, which contain various materials such as metals, plastics, glass, and textiles that must be carefully dismantled and recycled. 

While the ELV industry already excels in recovering valuable parts and recyclable metals, thousands of tonnes of other materials end up in landfills annually due to a lack of cost-effective processing options.

In the case of refrigerants, it is thought that most is vented to atmosphere at worst or improperly recovered at best.

The existing recycling industry is mature but predominantly focused on metals, with 1465 businesses – mostly small – which struggle to implement significant operational changes.

Additionally, Australia’s lack of domestic vehicle manufacturing, geographic isolation, and low population density create challenges for implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiatives and achieving total recoverability of vehicle waste. 

To address these issues, the joint FCAI/MTAA study identifies potential solutions for a national product stewardship scheme, published in The Outlook for End-of-Life Vehicles in Australia, which identifies a number of challenges to increasing end-of-life vehicle recovery rates and reducing landfill waste.

These include a diverse vehicle fleet, a fragmented recycling industry, limited recycling capability for non-metallic materials, and the absence of a domestic vehicle manufacturing industry. 

Australia’s recycling and dismantling was also found to lag behind other countries in its approach to end-of-life vehicle recovery, and while there is the potential to significantly increase its recovery rates, no existing global scheme is suitable for direct adoption in Australia due to its unique market and geographical circumstances.

The FCAI/MTAA study highlights the need for a co-regulatory product stewardship scheme, incorporating elements like authorised collection and treatment facilities, certificates of destruction, and standardised operating procedures.

All are ideas to be welcomed, with a strong case for including proper removal and disposal of every potentially polluting substance in each ELV presented for destruction.

The scheme, which would focus on passenger cars, SUVs, and light commercial vehicles, aims to establish a nationally consistent approach, reduce waste leakage, increase material recovery rates and minimise landfill waste by adapting best practices from existing global schemes to the Australian context.

MTAA CEO Matt Hobbs said the proposed stewardship scheme “will not only streamline operations across the industry but also address the unique challenges we face”. 

“This is a pivotal moment for us to enhance recovery efforts and reduce environmental impact as the industry moves towards a more sustainable future.”

Refrigerants in ELVs is a huge environmental problem. A 2015 report commissioned by the federal Department of the Environment estimated that “up to 10 per cent” of residual refrigerant in ELVs is recovered.

“Across the entire population of ELVs it is estimated that they contained on average 340 grams of refrigerant gas each. In aggregate, ELVs in 2013 were estimated to contain approximately 187 tonnes of high global warming potential (GWP) refrigerant, comprising 166 tonnes of HFC-134a and 21 tonnes of CFC-12.”

This makes the OEMs’ deliberately slow transition to low-GWP alternatives such as R1234yf all the more egregious.

According to the Department’s 2015 ELV refrigerant study, the equivalent of more than 400,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent refrigerant was estimated to have been emitted in 2013.

“This is equivalent to 23 per cent of the estimated direct emissions from operating mobile air conditioning (MAC) systems in 2013 and is roughly equivalent to 5 per cent of total consumption (imports) in 2013 from all applications,” the report said.

Australia’s low-GWP refrigerant lag causes this pattern of environmental damage to keep happening every year.

“Refrigerant gas emissions from ELVs primarily occur at the point where the vehicles are dismantled for spare parts, and where the air conditioner is not first degassed,” the 2015 report said.

As reported by AIRAH publication HVAC/R Nation in 2019, former Australian Refrigeration Council chair and Refrigerant Reclaim Australia GM Michael Bennett AM acknowledged that while contractors and technicians in Australia’s refrigerant-handling sectors are excellent at recovering and returning contaminated or unwanted refrigerants, there is still work to be done.

“Australia performs poorly compared to some other nations regarding recovery from end-of-life equipment and motor vehicles,” Bennett said.

HVAC/R Nation looked to Sweden as an example of a proactive strategy that could be adapted for Australia, where a coalition of automotive organisations is championing the creation of a circular economy for refrigerants with incentives to recover and categorise used refrigerants while also offering cost-effective reclaimed HFC and HFO refrigerants for servicing purposes and even OEMs.

The project is supported by Sweden’s national federation of automotive recyclers (SBR), the Swedish association of motor retail trades and repairs (MRF), and the Swedish association of vehicle workshops (SVFV).

Moving forward, the FCAI and MTAA say they have committed to collaborating with all stakeholders, including government, industry, and recycling organisations, to develop and implement a product stewardship program that addresses Australia’s existing challenges to establish a framework for future advancements in the ELV industry. 

While it won’t be a quick fix, FCAI CEO Tony Weber agreed that “the time for engagement on this important issue is now”. Let’s hope refrigerants are taken seriously.