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CLEfI A AIR ACT ' The United States Enviroamental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates section 608 of the Federal Clean Air Act. Failure to comply could cost you and your company as much as $27,500. per day, per violation and there is a bounty of up to $10,000. To lure your competitors, customers and fellow workers to tum you in. Service technicians who violate Clean Air Act provisions maybe fined, lose their certification, and maybe required to appear in Federal co he EP `A � -require technicians'to demonstrate the ability to properly perform refrigerant recovery/recyclin re �6a�ll F deinonstrate these skills can result in revocation of certification. 1...1 F. It is a violation of Section 608 to: MAY 18 2015 ♦ Falsify or fail to keep required records; ENVIRONMENTAL ♦ Fail to reach required evacuation rates prior to opening or disposing of appliances; HEA nrDawnA;:WT ♦ Knowingly release (vent) CFC's, HCFC's or RFC's while repairing appliances, with the exception ode-mtmmus releases; ♦ Service, maintain, or dispose of appliances designed to contain refrigerants without being appropriately certified as of November 14, 1994. (It is the responsibility of the final person in the disposal chain to ensure that refrigerant has been removed from appliances before scrapping.) ♦ Vent CFC's or HCFC's since July 1, 1992; ♦ Vent HFC's since November 15,1995; ♦ Fail to recover CFC's, HCFC's or HFC's before opening or disposing of an appliance; ♦ Fail to have an EPA approved recovery device, equipped with low loss fittings, and register the device with the EPA; ♦ Add nitrogen to a fully charged system, for the purpose of leak detection, and thereby cause a release of the mixture; ♦ Dispose of a disposable cylinder without first recovering any remaining refrigerant (to 0 psig.) and then rendering the cylinder useless, then recycling the metal; In addition, some state and local government regulations may contain regulations that are as strict or stricter than Section 608. MONTREAL PROTOCOL Following several years of negotiations, an international agreement (Treaty) regulating the production and use of CFCs, HCFC's, halons, methyl chloroform and carbon tetrachloride entered into force in mid 1989. Known as The Montreal Protocol, this landmark agreement initially required a production and consumption freeze. The Montreal Protocol called for a stepwise reduction and eventual production phase out of various Ozone Depleting Substances in developed countries. CFC's were phased out of production on December 31, 1995. HCFC refrigerants are scheduled of phase out in the future. When virgin supplies of CFC's are depleted, future supplies will come from recovered, recycled, or reclaimed refrigerants. THE THREE "R's" (RECOVER - RECYCLE - RECLAIM) The processes of recovery, recycling, and reclaiming sound similar, but they are quite different. To RECOVER is to remove refrigerant in any condition from a system and store it in an external container. To RECYCLE is to clean refrigerant for rouse by separating the oil from the refrigerant and removing moisture from the refrigerant by passing it through one or more filter driers. To RECLAIM is to process refrigerant to a level equal to new (virgin) product specifications as determined by chemical analysis. RECLAIMED refrigerant must meet the standard set forth in ARI 700 before it can be resold. RECOVERYDEVICES Refrigerant Recovery and/or Recycling equipment manufactured after November 15, 1993, must be certified and labeled by an EPA approved equipment testing organization to meet EPA standards. There are two basic types of recovery devices. One type of recovery equipment is referred to as "System -dependent" and captures refrigerant with the assistance of components in the appliance from which refrigerant is being recovered. The second type of recovery equipment is "Self- contained" and has its own means to draw the refrigerant out of the appliance.