A new draft standard for refrigerants from Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) is now available for public comment.
GECA’s Refrigerants standard has been updated, with revised criteria to set new environmental benchmarks and reflect industry changes. Once the standard is finalised and open to applicants, refrigerant manufacturers can choose to have their products certified against this standard to demonstrate their environmental, health and ethical credentials.
The standard covers refrigerants used in domestic and industrial air conditioning systems, domestic and industrial refrigerators, and vehicle air conditioning systems.
Refrigerants used in air conditioning and refrigeration have significantly contributed to global warming in addition to ozone depletion. While ozone-depleting CFC and HCFC compounds have been slowly phased out of use, many of the HFC and other compounds used to replace the original CFC refrigerants also contribute to the global warming problem.
The draft standard requires that refrigerants must have an ozone depletion potential equal to zero, as well as a global warming potential of less than 20. The standard also sets out requirements for packaging, which must be easily recyclable or subject to a product stewardship take-back arrangement with the manufacturer or agent.
GECA welcomes comments on the standard from the public and industry professionals until 26 December. A draft copy of the standard is available on the GECA website here. Please submit comments and feedback to standards@geca.org.au.
About GECA
Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA) runs Australia’s only independent, not-for-profit, multi-sector ecolabelling program and is the only Australian member of the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN). It develops standards against which products can be independently audited by GECA’s JAS-ANZ accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs). Its standards are developed following ISO 14024 principles for global best practice in ecolabelling.
Publish your content with EB Publishing
It's about who you reach. Get your news, events, jobs and thought leadership seen by those who matter to you.
