DENR bans importation of “freon” next year
TACLOBAN CITY – Starting January 2010, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will ban the importation of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) or ‘freon’.
The import ban on CFCs is in consonance with the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as well as the National CFC Phase-out Plan, according to Environmental Management Bureau 8’s Information Officer Maribel Munsayac.
Report from the National CFC Phase-out Plan Project of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau, which acts as the national coordinator for the implementation of the CFC phase-out, indicates that the country’s CFC importation and consumption has dipped to 169 metric tons last year, from 3,382 metric tons in 1995.
“The move of the department to ban the entry of CFCs into the country starting next year is our commitment to the global effort to control the emission of ozone depleting substances and enable our damaged ozone layer to heal,” Munsayac told local media in a recent CFC 2010 Phaseout Media Briefing.
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will also help the DENR in the strict enforcement of the ban to avert any attempt to smuggle the banned chemicals into the country it was learned.
The EMB-8, meanwhile, encourages the general public to shift to ozone-friendly refrigerants and to only go to accredited service shops.
Discovered in the late 1920s, CFCs are used in various industries as refrigerant, propellant, solvent and cleaning agent. Studies, however, showed that CFCs are capable of destroying the ozone molecules in the atmosphere resulting in the thinning of the ozone layer. Included in the banned list of CFCs are CFC 11, CFC 12, CFC 13, CFC 113, CFC 114, CFC 115 and R 502.
With the import ban, all refrigerant dealers are urged to purchase their CFC supply only from registered importers.
The discovery of an ozone ‘hole’ over the Antarctic prompted governments all over the world to come up with drastic measures to reduce the production and consumption of a number of CFCs and several halons through the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer adopted on Sept. 16, 1987.
To recall, the Philippines has been gradually reducing its importation and consumption of CFCs since 2000 in preparation for the complete phase out in 2010. (AHLETTE C. REYES)
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