Philippines to phase out ozone-depleting refrigerants next year

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2005

MANILA (AFP) — Ozone-depleting refrigerants are to be banned in the Philippines from next year, in a move that would affect motorists with vehicles that are at least six years old.

The phaseout would also affect manufacturers of foam mattresses, inhalers for asthma patients, and others that rely on chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Michael Defensor said Tuesday.

He urged owners of older cars that use the CFC-12 or R-12 type of refrigerants in their air conditioning systems to shift to the CFC-free R-134a used in newer vehicles.

The 1987 Montreal Protocol commits the Philippines to outlawing the production and consumption of compounds that deplete ozone in the stratosphere.

Ozone, a molecule of oxygen, is a...