Portugal facing EU action for lax disposal of ozone-depleting pollutant

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2004

LISBON (AFP) — The European Commission has launched legal action against Portugal for failing to enforce laws regulating the disposal of old refrigerators and air conditioning units containing ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), environmentalists said.

Quercus, a leading Portuguese environmental group, said it received a letter from the EU Environment Commission last month informing the group that Brussels was opening a probe into complaints that Lisbon has not provided sufficient CFC recycling facilities.

The group complained to Brussels last year that only 0.5 percent of roughly 500,000 old CFC-containing equipments were disposed of properly in Portugal in 2002.

EU regulations require member states to remove all CFCs from all old refrigerators and...