China to ban fluorine fridges
The Shanghai Daily - Aug. 22, 2006
By Li Xinran
FLUORINE refrigerators will be banned in China starting from next year, according to the country's Electronic Appliance Association.
Several government agencies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Environmental Protection Administration, will jointly issue a prohibition in September, said Wang Lei, the vice secretary of the association.
Most of the manufacturers stopped producing fluorine refrigerators in May. The current proportion of fluorine products in the market is fewer than 10 percent, Wang said. The new rule won't shock the market, he added.
"The company ordered us to sell all the fridges in stock before November," said an official from the Beijing branch of Frestech, one of China's biggest refrigerator producers.
Most of the manufacturers are able to produce refrigerators with non-fluorine coolers. However, it is still unknown whether the new rule stipulates the ban of fluorine for both the cooler and the blowing agent, said an industry insider.
SOURCE:
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/0 ... ridges.htm