Looking to offload your refrigerant waste? There's an HRAI program for that. For nearly 25 years, Refrigerant Management Canada (RMC) has helped HVACR companies dispose of or repurpose their excess refrigerants in a safe, responsible, and eco-friendly manner.
“RMC is the Canadian industry solution committed to the environmentally safe and responsible disposal of surplus refrigerants from the stationary refrigeration and air-conditioning industry,” says Kathleen O’Malley, RMC lead and Manager of Environmental Services with HRAI, who works alongside Nancy Larsen, Program Coordinator with Environmental Services, to run the award-winning program. “It’s important to the industry as it ensures that all surplus refrigerants are managed in the most environmentally responsible manner and helps industry to minimize the depletion of the ozone layer and global warming.”
Established by the HRAI in 2000, the not-for-profit corporation makes it as simple as possible for HVACR contractors to ensure their excess refrigerants are disposed of and/or repurposed (where possible). Contractors need only collect refrigerants in recovery cylinders and drop them off at an authorized wholesaler [link: https://www.hrai.ca/rmc-wholesaler-locator], where they are documented and prepared for shipment to one of the program’s collection service providers (i.e., Refrigerant Services Inc., GFL Environment), who weigh, test, and approve the materials for acceptance into the RMC program. If accepted, the materials are transferred to bulk storage cylinders (1/2 ton). When 30 of these bulk cylinders are full they are tested once again and then transferred to ISO tanks and shipped to RMC's contracted destruction facility for destruction.
“[RMC] is a great world example of industry solving its own problems,” says Devin Thomas, General Manager with Refrigerant Services Inc., which has served as an RMC collection service provider since the program’s inception. “It would get very expensive for contractors to have hundreds of cylinders in their shop just to keep what they've gotten rid of and, overall, it’s prevented the release of excess refrigerants.”
One misconception about the program is that it exists to destroy all refrigerants. In reality, says Thomas, that is the last option: “Reclamation is the greenest choice. If it can no longer be serviced or the return has no use anymore, then, of course, destruction makes great sense. But, if it can be cleaned and reclaimed, that's our first and obvious choice because it keeps refrigerants flowing into the market, helps control price, and helps control supply.”
The genesis of RMC
RMC's origins date back to 1998, when chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) started being phased out of production in accordance with the Montreal Protocol. This presented refrigerant industry players, HRAI included, with the challenge of determining what to do with excess refrigerants that were no longer needed once new refrigerants began to enter the field. After consulting with industry stakeholders and researching refrigerant disposal programs worldwide, HRAI moved forward with a bespoke Canadian solution.
"[RMC] originally began as a voluntary extended producer responsibility program back in 2000," notes Larsen. "However, when the P2 Plan came into effect in 2017, the original eight voluntary companies remained with RMC as the RMC program's operational guidelines met all the criteria required to comply with the Environment and Climate Change Canada P2 Plan."
The RMC has grown in scope and scale since it first began, helping the HVACR industry dispose of a wider range of end-of-life refrigerants. To date, it has collected and destroyed over 4.4 million kg of refrigerants and reduced significant amounts of GHG emissions.
“We are very proud of the RMC Program,” notes O’Malley. “It was the first program of its kind in North America and was awarded the EPA 2007 Best-of-the-best Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award and is still one of the best stewardship programs in the world.”
Keeping the momentum
The RMC has proven itself to be a world-class solution to the environmentally safe and responsible disposal of surplus refrigerants from the stationary refrigeration and air-conditioning industry. And as the program continues to evolve alongside the industry, both O’Malley and Thomas hope that it will bring more participants into the fold.
"Even after all these years, there are contractors who don't know about the RMC program," says Thomas. "So, if there's one thing we'd like to see moving forward is people spreading the word and creating more awareness because we are lucky to have this solution operating in the background of our industry."
Learn more about Refrigerant Management Canada (RMC)
