As summers stay hotter for longer, keeping cool becomes the main driver. All we can think of is the next cool drink, freeze-chilled ice-cream or air-conditioned night.
The chemicals chosen by industrialists to chill refrigerators and propel whipped cream onto our favourite ice-cream sundaes seemed at first to be perfect for the job.
Then we found an alarming hole in the planet's sunscreen, the layer of ozone shielding the Earth from ultra-violet rays caused by release into the atmosphere of these chlorine-based gases.
The Montreal Protocol, in an immediate response to scientific evidence, set targets for reducing and phasing-out the use of ozone-depleting substances.
Without decisive action to reduce the worst of these substances, the incidence of skin cancer would have increased by several millions of cases.
Ozone is thin in patches over Europe and the United States, and is expected to have a considerable effect on public health. Taking the lead, Europe has decided to act even more rapidly than the provisions of agreements within the protocol.
The latest regulation passed by the European Parliament calls for a further phasing out of substances which deplete the ozone layer. This has come upon us hard and fast after years of procrastination.
How to survive the phase-out was the subject of a recent seminar held by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority and the Cleaner Technology Centre.
Discovered in the 1930s, the non-toxic, non-corrosive, stable, odourless and non-flammable chlorine compounds were considered to be a dream come true. The dream turned sour when the ozone hole was discovered in 1985.
Damage to the immune system, cancer, cataracts and a slowing of plant growth were the global consequences we now face.
Up until 1981 the ozone over Europe was declining at five per cent per decade but now appears to be recovering very slowly. As a result of concerted, timely and continued international effort, chlorine concentration in the upper atmosphere is expected to return to normal by around 2050.
Europe is keen to do everything to help this process by restricting the sale and consumption of all ozone depleting substances.
The most troublesome ozone depleter is chlorofluorocarbon or CFC. Some of the alternatives are themselves ozone depleting substances, although to a lesser degree. The only two areas of exemption for CFCs are for cancer treatment and the military.
The phase-out on the use of CFCs as an aerosol propellant in cans was achieved in Malta with the passing of Legal Notice 70, following the signing of the Montreal Protocol.
In 1993 a voluntary agreement between the former Pollution Control Co-ordinating Unit (PCCU) and the major importers of fire-fighting equipment led to the phasing out of halon in extinguishers.
The PCCU called for a programme to identify alternatives for methyl bromide. The highly toxic soil fumigant is a significant ozone depleting compound and has an adverse effect on soil bio-diversity.
In 1995 a National Country Programme was drawn up as a requirement of the protocol, although it does not appear that much of it saw the light of day. Since the last CTC seminar on the future of CFCs held nine years ago, a number of local industries have succeeded in finding alternatives and refining production techniques to avoid the use of ozone-depleting substances.
Refrigerants remain a problem. Several companies in Malta supply and service domestic and commercial cooling systems for use on land and at sea.
No more Article 5
When Malta ratified the Montreal Protocol we were classified as a developing nation falling under Article 5. This gave some leeway, entitling us to delay the phase-out of ozone depleting substances. Even so it was not always easy staying within the limits regarding the amount of CFCs we could import and use.
Malta applied to the United Nations for financial assistance but the request was turned down. Even as an Article 5 country, Malta found itself at the end of the queue behind poorer developing countries because of our higher standard of living.
EU membership is due to bring about an immediate change in our status when we join a group of states where the economy is no longer on the level of a still developing nation. On May 1, 2004, the first day of membership, our obligations toward environmental protection on a global scale will suddenly be stepped up to those of a developed nation.
Europe has taken steps to regulate the substances which damage the ozone layer. This comes in the form of a regulation which is different from a directive in that it does not have to be transposed into Maltese law on accession.
"Our courts have the obligation to apply them directly," Dr Simone Borg, legal adviser to the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Environment, explained.
Under Regulation EC2037/2000 it is not only the gases but production of the equipment and products using these gases that must all be phased out. International smuggling of ODS gases since they became illegal has made it necessary to take this step. The regulations also apply to ships with large refrigeration units if they are inside EU territory.
Environmental inspector Anthony Aquilina gave more details of the phase-out, saying that halons (except for aircraft fire extinguishers), HBFCs and CFCs must be fully phased out by next May.
HCFC is regarded as a substance resorted to only while the transition away from ODS to alternatives is being made. HCFC must be reduced to 30 per cent of base year level by the end of 2004, leading up to a total phase-out in 2009.
For a few years after that, HCFC imports will be allowed in for maintenance only. Eventually, refrigerants, foam-blowing agents and others containing HCFCs will be completely banned.
A gas known as R22, a lesser ODS used to replace CFCs in the initial phase, must now also be replaced. Recovered gases will take over from virgin stock in 2010, with a complete phase-out in 2015. This gives people who have invested in equipment time to adjust.
Charmaine Vassallo, Environment Protection Officer within the Pollution Control and Waste Management unit at MEPA, provided more details on the obligations of the regulation regarding import and export procedures.
Technicians as policemen?
The new regulation puts great emphasis on prevention of leakages. Fixed equipment with a fluid charge of over 3 kg must be checked annually. Refrigerant gas has to be removed from a discarded fridge before it is taken to the dump.
The French recovery programme for refrigerant includes a refundable deposit for recyling if the fridge is returned at end of life. Independent service companies supply reusable cylinders.
Companies operating in the Netherlands organise and pay for reclaim and disposal facilities, while mandatory compliance is set down by government. The technicians have to pass a written exam and only companies with approval are authorised to do maintenance work. The CTC has plans to set up courses for operators in Malta.
Allowable ODS leaks from equipment, such as air-conditioners, is very small at five parts per million. Leaks in car air-conditioners are common. A few local workshops which service car air-conditioners do ODS recovery and recycling. Car importers are being asked to comply.
The PCCU had draft legislation for a ban on importation of ODS reliant equipment ready in 1998 but this was never taken up. Companies are finding, quite late in the day, that they are having to look at equipment using alternative substances for chilling. At least one company on the island manufactures air-conditioning equipment.
"Will there be incentives?" a representative from the industry asked. "There are no incentives but definite disincentives," Louis Vella, head of the new Pollution Control, Waste and Minerals unit within the Environment Directorate, answered.
ISO and EMAS certification provide encouragement for that industry to comply. Mr Vella hoped that industry would strengthen ties with the CRC, the interface between the regulator and the regulated.
New alternatives are coming onto the market. Developing technologies, such as magnetic superconductivity, could in future provide air-conditioning without the need for refrigerant gases.
Engineer Alan Abela, managing director of Engenuity Ltd, gave a technical view of methods for recycling and recovery of ozone depleting gases. The destruction of any remaining ODS gases would have to be done by incineration at specialised facilities abroad.
Refrigerant gas is not hazardous but difficult to break down and requires high temperatures. Recycling of ozone-depleting substances requires that the different types are kept separate.
Two years ago a PCCU review from within the former Environment Protection Department recommended that both suppliers and consumers should be informed of the obligations deriving from Malta's international obligations. Consumers remained in the dark. The report warned of the serious economic consequences of a sudden decrease in HCFC consumption brought about by lack of preparedness.
Despite awareness on the issue, there has been little or no action in the area of servicing or licensing of technicians. "There is not much time left," Engineer Abela concluded in a reference to the May deadline.
Biochemicals International quality manager Roberto Cassone spoke on the changes that his company had made to protect the ozone layer.
An eye on the road ahead
Peter Horrocks, of the Climate Change and Ozone Depletion Unit within DG Environment at the EU Commission, gave indications of regulations still to come. Implementation is the responsibility of each member state with its own environment inspection teams and systems. Each country has to report their system in detail and will be under pressure from the commission on the technical structure for refrigeration and air-conditioning.
Mr Horrocks advised a forward-looking approach to the issue of alternatives for HFCs, a climate change gas which was currently being used as an alternative for HCFCs. He predicted that a phase-out of HFCs in car air-conditioning is likely by around 2008 when a quota system will be put in place.
"The general aim in DG Environment is to be able to compete in the marketplace to the benefit of both environment and industry. Now that Malta is participating as an observer in the EU, you can make your concerns known."
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