Refrigeration devices are the type of technology we need every day, especially during warmer periods. However, as much as devices make our lives easier, they can negatively impact the environment and, thus, indirectly affect our health if they are not treated properly when their working life is over.
These are devices like air conditioners, freezers, and refrigerators because, apart from being electrical devices and containing hundreds of harmful chemical substances, they also need something else to function, and that is freon – a gas that, on the one hand, contributes to global warming and, on the other damages the ozone layer. Prolonged exposure to this gas affects people’s health and causes frostbite/burns in direct contact with the skin. Our country lacks awareness of the danger of dumping electrical waste into the environment and landfills.
When old devices are disposed of in uncontrolled conditions where they may come into contact with other types of waste or water, pollutants are released, which can end up in the soil, rivers and other segments of the environment. Pollutants can cause soil contamination, which is a permanent problem. Unfortunately, many people do not know how dangerous this waste is, and those who manage it must be specially educated. Improper handling can expose them to serious health risks.
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Zudija Hopić from Laćarak, near Sremska Mitrovica, a man with many years of experience in collecting secondary raw materials, is committed to solving the problem of insufficiently high awareness of the dangers that this waste causes. When a defunct device is picked up by collectors, they disassemble it to extract the parts they need. A big problem is the engine of cooling devices, which usually ends up being disposed of somewhere in nature or at a landfill as unnecessary. According to Zudija, the engine is usually disposed of because it is heavy and unnecessary Still, an even bigger problem arises if the collectors cut it up before disposal to remove the copper parts.
When collectors of secondary raw materials cut the motor of the device in pieces, freon is released. We are still not sufficiently aware of how harmful this gas is. In the desire to pass on his knowledge to others, Zudija plans to organize educational workshops on the proper way to separate this type of waste, especially the motors of refrigeration devices and its subsequent management in recycling centers where collectors can dispose of those parts that they don’t need. Zudija explains that recycling centers have a special technology that safely extracts freon, but many people who collect waste are not informed about it.
Prepared by Katarina Vuinac
Read the story in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE AND FINANCING OF GREEN CONSTRUCTIO.
