Project goal: Climate-friendly disposal of old refrigerators
Project scale: The new recycling plant can dispose of 400,000 old appliances per year, recovering harmful chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs from the cooling systems and those contained in the foam insulation
Project investment: Over 5 million euros ($6.70 million), of which 3,5 million was earmarked for the recycling plant

Televisions and refrigerators are an integral part of every Brazilian household, and families who can't afford new ones buy them second-hand. The result is that one in ten refrigerators in Brazil is more than 16 years old, and therefore a long way from being green: the old appliances contain gases called CFCs. Their disposal releases high levels of these environmentally harmful gases into the atmosphere. At a state-of-the-art recycling plant run by the International Climate Initiative in Brazil, the old refrigerators can now be cleanly disposed off in a process that captures many millions of tonnes of carbon.

A film by Vanessa Fischer

#videobig#