Industries unaware of CFC regulations

Yomna Kamel Middle East Times

While the Egyptian authorities have succeeded in reducing the amount of ozone depleting substances used in large scale industry, monitoring the use of these materials by small workshops and repair centers has been out of their reach.

These neighborhood businesses use CFCs (Chlorofluororcarbons), locally known as pherion, with no consideration as to their environmental consequences.

CFCs, among the major ozone depleting substances, are widely used as a coolant in refrigerators and air conditioners, as solvents in cleaners and as a blowing agent in the production of foam.

"Using CFCs depends on the person managing the workshop himself. If he is well aware of the hazards it brings to the environment, he will use other substances that are environment friendly," says Hosni Mahmoud, director of Hoover Maintenance Center. "I used to use CFCs, but I shifted to nitrogen, a less damaging substance to the environment."

Mahmoud, whose shop specializes in refrigeration repair, thinks he is among the few who have stopped using CFCs. He doubts though that the thousands of small shops and service units run by uneducated technicians know anything about the CFCs' deleterious effect on the ozone.

"We have not received any order from the government banning the use of CFCs. Also, no brochures or information sheets have ever been distributed to workshops and maintenance centers telling them about CFCs. So, if actions are taken by some of us, they are due to personal awareness of the issue," he says.

Mahmoud thinks there is a need for an awareness campaign that includes visits to workshops by environment educators and training courses, which target workers in this sector.

According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), "increasing public awareness to combat ozone depletion and achieve sustainable development is crucial to change, and to influence others to change existing values and behavior."

Distributing information regarding the effects of CFC emissions and a list of CFC-containing products will help. Another effective way to increase public awareness is by organizing seminars addressed to a defined target group and focused on a specific set of issues. Such seminars could be done in connection with other public events, the UNEP's on-line newsletter recommends.

For the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, making the public aware of the ozone issue is also very important, but in terms of priority, the large industrial sector should be the focus of the agency's programs.

For this purpose, the Ozone Layer Protection Union was formed in the early 1990s to carry out all activities related to phasing out the use of the CFCs from the industrial sector.

"We started with the industrial sector, which comprises factories using enormous amounts of ozone depleting substances because it is a major base of the Egyptian economy," Salwa Al Tayeb, head of the Ozone Layer Protection Unit says.

According to Tayeb, the Egyptian government has shown sustained commitment to reduce the consumption of ozone depleting substances used by the industrial sector. Activities to protect the ozone layer started as early as 1986.

While projects targeting the industrial sector continue, by July of this year, the focus will be turned to two other sectors.

"The first are the small enterprises who use these substances as an integral part of their business. The second group is the general public who range from housewives to supermarket managers and technicians working in small workshops repairing refrigerators and air-conditioners," says Tayeb.

Tayeb expects it will not be difficult to get the message out to the first sector since they can be made aware of the situation by giving them brochures covering the subject.

"However, it still takes time to ensure that all companies working in the field are well aware of the issue before we take further steps to firmly ban the use of ozone harmful substances," she says.

For the other group, it is more difficult and time consuming because of the broader base. Tayeb thinks the ozone is an important topic, which makes it uneasy to launch an intensive media campaign to make people aware of it.

Egypt was among the first countries that signed the UNDP's Montreal Protocol Program in 1998 banning the consumption of ozone depleting substances and their gradual elimination. Around $14 million was allocated by the UNDP for Egypt to implement a number of projects designed to phase out CFCs from industrial businesses of all sizes.