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Environmental Modeling
A Chilling Prospect: Climate change effects
of mismanaged refrigerants in China
huabo duan, T. Reed Miller, Gang Liu, Xianlai Zeng, Keli Yu, Qifei Huang, Jian Zuo, Yufei Qin, and Jinhui Li
Environ. Sci. Technol., Just Accepted Manuscript • DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05987 • Publication Date (Web): 07 May 2018
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2 A Chilling Prospect: Climate change effects of mismanaged refrigerants in

3 China

5 Huabo Duan1*, T. Reed Miller2, Gang Liu3*, Xianlai Zeng4, Keli Yu5, Qifei Huang6*, Jian Zuo7, Yufei Qin8,
6 Jinhui Li4
7
1
8 School of Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen518060, China.
9 *, Corresponding authors. Huabo Duan, Ph.D. huabo@szu.edu.cn
2
10 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Yale University, 06511, USA.
3
11 SDU Life Cycle Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, and Environmental
12 Technology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense 5230, Denmark.
13 *, Co- Corresponding authors. Gang Liu, Ph.D. Assoc. Prof. gli@kbm.sdu.dk
4
14 School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
5
15 China National Resources Recycling Association, Beijing 100084, China.
6
16 State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of
17 Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100084, China.
18 *, Co- Corresponding authors. Qifei Huang, Ph.D. Prof. huangqf@craes.org.cn
7
19 School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Adelaide SA 5005 Australia
8
20 GEM Co., Ltd. Fengcheng, 331100, China.
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22 Table of Contents graphic (TOC Art):

23

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25 Abstract:
26 The global community has responded to the dual threats of ozone depletion and climate

27 change from refrigerant emissions (e.g., chlorofluorocarbons, CFCs, and hydrofluorocarbons,

28 HFCs) in refrigerators and air conditioners (RACs) by agreeing to phase out the production of

29 the most damaging chemicals and replacing them with substitutes. Since these refrigerants are

30 ‘banked’ in products during their service life, they will continue to impact our environment

31 for decades to come if they are released due to mismanagement at the end of life. Addressing

32 such long-term impacts of refrigerants requires a dynamic understanding of the RACs’ life

33 cycle, which was largely overlooked in previous studies. Based on field surveys and a

34 dynamic model, we reveal the lingering ozone depletion potential (ODP) and significant

35 global warming potential (GWP) of scrap refrigerants in China, the world’s largest producer

36 (62%) and consumer (46%) of RACs in 2015, which comes almost entirely from air

37 conditioners rather than refrigerators. If the use and waste management of RACs continue

38 with the current trend, the total GWP of scrap refrigerants in China will peak by 2025 at a

39 level of 135.2 ±18.9 Mt CO2e (equal to approximately 1.2%±0.2% of China’s total

40 greenhouse gas emissions or the national total of either the Netherlands and Czech Republic

41 in 2015). Our results imply an urgent need for improving the recycling and waste

42 management of RACs in China.

43 Key words: climate change | sustainability | refrigerants | e-waste | industrial ecology

44 Introduction

45 Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were synthesized as refrigerants in the 1920s for use in

46 refrigerators and air conditioners (RACs). It was not until 1974 that the negative impact of

47 fugitive CFC emissions on the Earth’s protective ozone layer was identified (1). Many
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48 alternative refrigerants, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons

49 (HFCs), were determined to be powerful agents in climate change, often hundreds to

50 thousands of times the power of CO2 (2). The global community has responded to the dual

51 threats of ozone depletion and climate change from refrigerant emissions by agreeing to phase

52 out the production of the most damaging chemicals and replace them with substitutes.

53 However, a massive challenge remains because the older classes of refrigerants are still

54 contained in RACs reaching their end of life (EoL). If these obsolete products are not properly

55 managed, the harmful gasses will continue to be released into the atmosphere (3).

56

57 Despite extensive studies on the consumption and environmental impact of ozone depleting

58 substances (ODS) and their substitutes 3-7, relatively few have examined these chemicals in

59 devices reaching the EoL or put forward measures for control and impacts reduction. The

60 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories (8) includes guidance on

61 estimating emissions of fluorinated substitutes for ozone depleting substances; reporting

62 requirements for non-Annex 1 countries including China are limited, and China’s reporting to

63 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are solely

64 aggregate production-based impacts. In Japan, Nakano et al. (2007) 9 adopted the material

65 flow analysis (MFA) approach to evaluate the global warming potential (GWP) reduction as a

66 result of implementing the household appliance recycling. In our previous work (Zhao et al.,

67 20117), the amount of residual ODS refrigerants from refrigerators in China was investigated,

68 however the GWP and ODP impacts were not analyzed. Similarly, Xue et al. (2017a and

69 2017b) 4-5 examined the GWP impact of the household refrigerator sector in Japan over

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70 decades via a stock model. In addition, some studies were undertaken to evaluate the

71 characterization of ODS refrigerants released from the recycling (e.g. dismantling and

72 shredding) of RAC (cited and summarized Table S11). These emission factors have been

73 taken as the key parameters to quantify refrigerant flows during EoL stages. The approach to

74 select the appropriate methods to quantify the generation of obsolete RAC and their impacts is

75 discussed in the Method section.

76 As the world’s largest producer (62% in 2015) and consumer (46% in 2015) of RACs (10),

77 China generated 2.6 Kt of waste CFCs in 2005, which accounted for half of its total waste

78 refrigerants. Addressing this, China signed the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the

79 Ozone Layer in 1989, signed the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone

80 Layer (Protocol) in 1991, and incorporated a strategy into a 1993 National Action Plan

81 (updated in 1999) (11). Remarkably, the Protocol was universally ratified by all 197 UN parties

82 as of 2009. It was most recently amended in Kigali in 2016 to phase out HFCs beginning in

83 2019; the reduced use of these potent greenhouse gases (GHGs) is expected to avoid over 80

84 billion tonnes of CO2e through 2050 (12).

85 According to the Kyoto Protocol and the UNFCCC, a few countries and regions have already

86 introduced laws to restrict the use of HFCs (13,14) since 2005, including China (15). China’s

87 efforts here have proven to be effective at reducing the domestic consumption (see Figure 1c)

88 and subsequent release of ODS from RACs in China, especially of CFCs in refrigerators

89 which was down to about 0.6 Kt of waste in 2015 (see Figure 1d).

90 Despite the progress in phasing out classes of refrigerants in production, there could be

91 lingering ozone depletion potential (ODP) and significant global warming potential (GWP)

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92 from mismanaged scrap refrigerants in China. Here we use field surveys and a dynamic

93 Sales Obsolescence Model (SOM) (see details in the Method) to project that possibility.

94

95 Methods

96 The Sales Obsolescence Model. We employed a dynamic Sales Obsolescence Model (SOM)

(16)
97 to quantify the waste RACs and their refrigerants generation and flows. The SOM built

98 upon official government statistics and a set of surveys targeting the behavior of RAC

99 consumers, collectors and recyclers from 2015 to 2016. Additional calculations are conducted

100 between 2005 and 2035 in order to observe trends and to conduct the scenario analysis.

101 The calculation steps are as follows: (1) Determining the sales data (units) of RACs over a

102 given time period; (2) Estimating the mass of initial refrigerants and their substitutes per RAC

103 appliance, with a consideration of the diversity of blowing agents and compressor refrigerants,

104 and accounting for leakage during use; (3) Modeling the lifespan of each type of RAC; (4)

105 Estimating and predicting the total quantity of waste refrigerants generated in the given period;

106 (5) Characterizing the GWP and ODP impacts derived from released refrigerants (17); (6)

107 Further calculating the aggregated or individual GWP and ODP impacts at various end-of-life

108 stages, with allocations to informal and formal e-waste recycling sectors. Various scenarios

109 were developed to evaluate the ODP and GWP reduction potentials.

110

111 Field survey and data collection. (1) Sales data. Sales related data are retrieved from various

112 official statistics from the Chinese government (listed in Table S1 in section 2.4 by

113 Supporting Information). These include the production, export and import, sales by size, use

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114 of refrigerants and their substitution rate (by fractions). (2) End-of-Life stage data. We

115 conducted a survey (n=1200) to analyze lifespan distribution of RACs and explore the

116 household generation (Figure S5 and S6). In addition, we conducted field investigations on

117 informal recyclers at home appliance repair shops (n=50) who collected scrap RACs from

118 peddlers and consumers, to understand the treatment of RACs and their refrigerants in the

119 informal sector (Figure S9 and Table S13). Licensed recyclers (n=7) in six provinces were

120 investigated to characterize the collected amount of RACs, the treatment of RACs, and their

121 refrigerants by formal recyclers. For validation, we also recorded the actual lifespans and

122 refrigerant type of RACs (n=300) which were ready for processing at the formal recyclers

123 (Table S4-6). The collection rate of waste RACs by formal sectors were determined from

124 official statistics (Table S12). (3) Refrigerant impact. Other key parameters, including the

125 residual rates of different refrigerants in scrap RACs and the GWP and ODP factors are drawn

126 from literature.

127

128

129 Model uncertainty. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation was performed to capture uncertainty in

130 each dataset at each calculation stage; MC simulations create results with a randomly drawn

131 combination of values following reasonable probability distributions for each variable. The

132 SOM results embed variability assigned to lifespan distribution parameters, reuse pathway

133 likelihoods, future sales, and collection rates in the MC simulations. Variables pertaining to

134 refrigerants include the fraction of each substitute used in production, mass per appliance of a

135 given size, leakage rate in use, release rate in each recycling activity (Table S1-3 shows all

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136 parameters). We reduce the model uncertainties and enhance the robustness of our results by

137 using disaggregated data such as sales and refrigerants content according to various factors

138 such as size, manufacturing year, manufacturer, and surveys distinguishing rural and urban

139 consumers.

140 The system definition, model details, and data sources are all elaborated in Supplementary

141 Information.

142

143 Results and Discussion

144 Quantifying the threat. Nearly all of the future climate change (89% in 2015 and 99% in

145 2020) impact is derived from scrap air conditioners (ACs); refrigerators played a larger role in

146 the past (see Figure 1e and 1f). The use of transitional HCFCs, which are less ozone depleting

147 than CFCs but have high GWP factors (see Table S10), has peaked in recent years in RACs

148 (see Figure 1b and 1c). annual sales of RACs in China will continue to grow slightly in

149 coming decades (see Figure 1a and 1b, from 4.1% in 2016 to 1.1% in 2025), the consumption

150 of refrigerants will drop from a peak of over 100 thousand metric tons (Kt) per year at about

151 year 2017 to about 10 Kt per year in 2035. This is because that newly developed and modern

152 non-halogen refrigerants such as Hydrocarbons (HCs, including isobutane -R600a and

153 propane-R290) will be increasingly substituted and are much less dense. They are

154 considered a greener alternative to the fluorocarbons due to lower ODP and GWP factors.

155 The peak of RAC waste generation will come in the next 5 to 10 years (see Figure 1d) (18).

156 RACs normally have a long life span (e.g., 8-15 years) and the refrigerants are ‘banked’ inside

157 (see Table S7). As a result, China might not end ODS releases from scrap RACs until

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158 approximately 2035 due to banked HCFCs. HFCs, which have no ozone impact but

159 significant GWP, have had a drastic increase in use in the RACs sector as HCFCs declined.

160 Without an aggressive EoL management strategy, we forecast that the GHG emissions derived

161 from RACs will peak by 2025 at 135.2 ±18.9Mt CO2e. This is approximately equivalent to

162 approximately 1.2% (±2%) of China’s total GHG emissions in 2012, or the national total

163 GHG emissions of many other countries in the world, e.g., the Netherlands and Czech

164 Republic in 2015 (see Figure S18).

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(a) Total Sales (b) Total Sales by Refrigerant

150 300

120 Rft
240
AC
Million units

Million units
90 180
Used in ACs:
60 120
HC (R600a)
30 60

0 0 HFC-32

HFC-410A
(c) Refrigerant consumption (d) Waste Refrigerant
120 120
HCFC-22
100 100
Used in
80 refrigerators:
80
Kt

HC (R600a)
Kt

60 60

40 40
HC (Cyclopentane)

20 20

0 0 HFC-134a

HCFC-141b
(e) ODP Impact (f) GWP Impact
4 160
CFC-12
3 120
Kt CFC-11e

CFC-11
Mt CO2e

2 80

1 40

0 0

166 Figure 1 Sales of RACs and refrigerants consumption in RACs, and their ODP and

167 GWP (without consideration of recycling for reuse or direct destruction) in China

168 (average values), 2005-2035.

169
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170

171 Current mismanagement of refrigerants. Much of these refrigerant emissions can be avoided

172 through proper management systems at the end of life EoL. Our field investigations of

173 informal and formal recyclers’ aid in characterizing the current EoL processes and pathways

174 for scrap RACs in China. The informal recycling sector refers to recycling facilities where

175 EoL equipment is manually dismantled by unskilled and ill-equipped labor, for example in

176 Figure 2 (See Figure S9 and S10 as well). Refrigerant gasses are colorless and odorless; these

177 workers likely perceive no harm by releasing them to the atmosphere. By contrast, the formal

178 recycling sector refers to licensed recyclers where EoL equipment is centrally managed (see

179 detailed descriptions in SI Section 1.1).

180

181 While it is feasible to properly recover compressor refrigerant from RACs with basic

182 machinery, there are significant challenges for the cost-effective separation and collection of

183 blowing agent refrigerants from polyurethane (PUR) foam in refrigerators. The metal

184 fractions are recycled through shredding of the units. Similarly, the scrap foam is

185 subsequently cut into small pieces that may be recycled, incinerated, or landfilled in a

186 majority of cases. Both shredding process and landfill of PUR foam waste will release

187 refrigerants (elaborated in SI Section 1.1).

188

189 Our results show that the potential climate change impact of China’s scrap refrigerants from

190 RACs in 2015 was approximately 48.3 ±15.5 Mt CO2e, and less than 4% of that was avoided

191 through proper management (Figure 2). The climate change impacts are mainly derived from

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192 the informal recycling activities (approximately 95%), with improper dismantling of

193 compressors accounting for over 70%. Surprisingly, we found that formal recyclers rarely

194 control the release of compressor gasses and refrigerator foam blowing agents. Therefore, a

195 key to mitigate the potential climate impacts of RACs will be to enhance the capacity of

196 recyclers to properly capture these gasses with technology and training.

197
198 Figure 2 GWP impact (baseline, average values) derived from releasing refrigerants

199 from obsolete RACs at various end-of-life stages, 2015. Refrigerants leakage during use

200 and storage, approximately 18.9 Mt in 2015, are not considered in our scope.
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201

202 RACs have largely been overlooked since toxicity was the main focus of previous efforts to

203 tackle the e-waste issue in China (19). Since 2009, the Chinese government has continuously

204 promulgated a series of regulations and standards on the management of e-waste and a

205 preliminary system based on extended producer responsibility (EPR) principles was

206 established. Producers and importers of electric and electronic products are required to

207 contribute to subsidizing the operation cost of formal licensed recyclers (19) (Figure S23). A

208 few types of e-waste, including RACs, have been given priority as a special waste stream for

209 recycling and ultimate disposal in order to prevent adverse environmental impacts (e.g.,

210 toxicity and ODP) in China. Since then, a growing proportion of e-waste has been collected

211 and treated by formal recyclers in China (Table S12). The current formal recycling rate of

212 refrigerators is still low, but has grown from 1% in 2009 to 17% in 2015. By contrast, the

213 current formal recycling rate of ACs is still less than 1%. Considering that ACs and the

214 informal recycling create the vast majority of the growing climate change impacts, this is a

215 clear area to target for rapid improvement.

216 Proposed formal-informal sector collaboration. The existing formal scrap RAC management

217 system should be expanded in some form to include existing informal sectors in a bid to

218 reduce improper recycling activities and consequently improve the recovery rate of

219 refrigerants (20,21). For a new system to succeed, the informal workers whose livelihoods are

220 dependent on these RACs should be included as stakeholders in a participatory planning

221 process. One option could be to aggressively incentivize the flow of obsolete RACs directly

222 toward the formal sector. There is growing evidence that the percentage of formal sector on

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223 e-waste collection is comparable to the informal sector if sufficient subsidies are in place,

224 such as scrap TVs and PC (see Table S12) (19). Existing subsidy levels appear to be

225 inadequate as evidenced by the very low formal RAC recycling rates (illustrated in Figure

226 S23 to S25).

227

228 A compromise could be for formal recycling businesses to connect closely with the current

229 informal e-waste recycling routes in order to avoid competition in acquiring obsolete RACs.

230 Perhaps the formal sector would be subsidized to pay a higher price for an intact compressor

231 than the scrap metal market would for a dismantled compressor, allowing the informal

232 workers to profit from minimal dismantling. The sectors’ collaboration to manage the

233 refrigerants contained in the devices would thus mimic a Best-of-2-Worlds style approach (22).

234

235 In recent years, the world’s most infamous e-waste dump sites, including Guiyu and Taizhou

236 in China, Kolkata in India, and Agbogbloshie in Ghana (23-26), have attracted global attention

237 from the media and public on their environmental and health impacts, which consequently led

238 to mitigation actions (27). The southeastern town of Guiyu, nestled in China’s main

239 manufacturing zone, for example, was once the largest hub for e-waste disposal on earth, with

240 5,000 or more informal e-waste workshops and dismantling facilities (23,28). Since 2014, the

241 local government has established an industrial park that concentrates on e-waste processing

242 facilities to reduce their potential environmental and health impacts by using cleaner solutions

243 and equipment (21). Such ‘Guiyu model’ could offer a useful precedent for RAC refrigerant

244 management developing countries.

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245

246 Emission pathways against national targets. To evaluate the GWP reduction potentials in

247 future, we have developed several scenarios for the projection of GWP impacts of obsolete

248 RACs over the next two decades from 2016–2035 (Table 1).

249 Table 1 ODP and GWP reduction opportunity (scenarios setting)

Release Rate of
Formal Recycling Targeted Release Rate of
Scenario Compressor
Rate of EoL RACs year Blowing agent
Refrigerant
S1 (Business 17.36% (Rft) 100% (Informal) 100% (Informal)
N/A
as usual) 0.67% (AC) 95% (Formal) 100% (Formal)
S2 85% (Rft)
85% (AC)
2035
S2a 17.36% (Rft)
100% (Informal) 100% (Informal)
85% (AC)
10% (Formal) 10% (Formal)
S3 85% (Rft)
85% (AC)
2025
S3a 17.36% (Rft)
85% (AC)

250

251 Scenario 1 is business-as-usual (BAU) with 2015 as a baseline, Scenario 2 increases the

252 formal recycling rate linearly to 85% by 2035, which aligns well with the EU recycling target

253 in the WEEE-Directive 2012/19/EU, while scenario 3 achieves the same goal (to 85%) by

254 2025. In Scenarios 2 and 3, the release rate of compressor refrigerant and foam blowing

255 agent drops to 10%; the other 90% were assumed to be well managed, and any destruction

256 impacts were neglected (detailed explanation in SI section 4). The baseline results of this

257 analysis indicate the future dominance of environmental impacts from ACs relative to

258 refrigerators. Therefore, scenarios 2a and 3a consider implementation of a policy where the

259 proper recycling of ACs is prioritized while refrigerators’ formal recycling rates remain

260 unchanged. In the case of a limited budget to support RAC recycling, this reflects allocating
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261 the bulk of the budget to ACs (see Figures S23-S24). Figure 3 shows that within two

262 decades, Scenarios 2 and 3 could achieve a cumulative reduction of 650 and 1,010 Mt of

263 CO2e, respectively, compared to BAU.

S1_BAU National targets & RACs

▲ Relatvie to 2015 levels
S2, RAC 2035
Relative to 2005 levels
4 S2a, AC 2035 160 100%
S3, RAC 2025
S3a, AC 2025
3 GWP ( Mt CO2e) 120
ODP (Kt CFC-11e)

2 80 0%

1 40

0 0 -100%

(a) ODP (b) GWP (c) Carbon intensity reduction

264 Note: The ‘overlap’ between S2 (Orange) and S2a (Purple) plots is due similar modeling results.

265 Figure 3 Reduction potentials of ODP (a), GWP (b), and carbon intensity (c) in the three

266 scenarios (S1-S3). Scatter plots of S2a and S3a are partially overlapped with S2 and S3

267 (respectively) due to the close values, suggesting refrigerators are insignificant. Figure 3c

268 illustrates carbon intensity (metric ton CO2e per unit of GDP) reduction in three scenarios

269 against the national targets. Triangles show carbon intensity reductions compared to 2015

270 levels; China’s 13th Five-Year Plan target (18% below the 2015 level by 2020) is solid grey.

271 Circles show carbon intensity reductions compared to 2005 levels; China’s Intended

272 Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) targets (up to 40%, 50%, and 60% by 2020,

273 2025, and 2030 respectively) are solid grey.

274
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275 As the largest emitter of GHGs in the world, China is under mounting pressure surrounding

276 climate change mitigation. China has already pledged to reduce its carbon intensity – the

277 CO2e per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) – by 60-65% by 2030 compared to 2005

278 levels (Figure 3c). This is defined in China’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution

279 (INDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

280 (UNFCCC) (29). Meanwhile, China has made its own short-term commitment to reduce its

281 energy and carbon intensity by 15% and 18% by 2016 and 2020 compared to 2015 level,

282 respectively, within its 13th Five-Year Plan (30) (Figure 3c).

283

284 We have consequently evaluated if the proposed scenarios for the RACs sector can contribute

285 proportionally to, or aligns well with, these national goals. The results (Figure 3c) show that,

286 by 2020, the 13th Five-Year Plan target could not be met in any of these scenarios. However,

287 both Scenarios 2 and 3 could meet the INDC goals by 2025 and 2030. This is because the

288 GHG emissions peak earlier by around 2025, and then decrease to a low level by 2030. In

289 other words, the long-term goal could be achieved by the RACs sector if the national target is

290 equally distributed across all sectors. On the contrary, it is difficult to meet the upcoming

291 short-term mitigation task if the formal recycling rate grows gradually. This implies that great

292 efforts should be made to promote the environmentally sound recycling of EoL RACs, as well

293 as enhancing the refrigerant release control. This short window of opportunity calls for urgent

294 action.

295

296 Policy recommendations. In order to address the challenges of obsolete RACs management

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297 and associated impacts, the following urgent actions are recommended.

298 • Prioritize ACs over refrigerators. Our results show that the GWP impacts are almost

299 entirely derived from scrap ACs (89% in 2015 and 99% in 2020, on average), which

300 currently have an abysmal formal recycling rate (approximately 1% in 2015). Our

301 scenario estimates demonstrated similar performance if the AC recycling rate grows

302 regardless if the refrigerator rate does the same. While refrigerators deserved priority

303 in the past, going forward ACs certainly deserve focus, in case of a limited budget to

304 subsidize and support RACs management. In order to formally collect ACs, there will

305 have to be a higher subsidy than currently exists; funds currently allocated to

306 refrigerator collection should be shifted to ACs.

307 • Promote sound formal recycling of EoL RACs in collaboration with the informal

308 sector: from collision to collaboration. The allocation of responsibilities for proper

309 management between formal and informal sectors will be a key aspect to ensure the

310 economic and logistical viability of the overall management system. The specific

311 structure of system should be designed with the active participation of all stakeholders.

312 Since neither the current formal or informal recycling processes effectively capture

313 fugitive refrigerant gasses, investments should be made in capacity building. Overall,

314 regulations (or financial incentive policies) must be inclusive, building on existing

315 realities.

316 • Classify the refrigerants as hazardous waste. China needs to classify the ODS and the

317 refrigerants with high GWP factors as hazardous waste (HW), including CFCs,

318 HCFCs, HFCs, and refrigerants-containing PUR foam. Low GWP alternatives such as

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319 R290, R600a and cyclopentane could be exempted from the HW list. Following the

320 adage “you can’t manage what you don’t measure”, enforceable rules, the cornerstone

321 for HW management, can enable the tracking of refrigerant flows. These rules include

322 records retention for the generation and transportation, along with permits for

323 treatment and disposal (31). From the Chinese institutional perspective, refrigerants are

324 a typical HW that has been largely overlooked. Except for European Union (EU) (32)

(33)
325 and the US , relatively few countries have classified scrap refrigerants as HW in

326 the waste management system (elaborated in SI Section 6). This is particularly the

327 case in the less-developed countries including China.

328 • Enhance the destruction rate of refrigerants. Several destruction technologies are

329 available for the refrigerants, whether gases or PUR foam, and should be more

330 extensively utilized in China. These include: rotary kiln, the cement kiln, and the

331 plasma decomposition methods, as recommended by the United Nations Environment

332 Program (UNEP) and approved by the Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol

(34, 35)
333 . In contrast to incinerators and other treatment techniques, high temperature

334 cement kilns are already in place in virtually every country and can, if found technical

335 feasible, be retrofitted and adapted cost-efficiently to destroy chemicals like CFCs (36).

336 Actually, co-processing of solid wastes in cement kilns has already started in China (37).

337 There are currently nearly 250 plants in China with cement kilns and Chinese cement

338 capacity accounts for over 60% of total worldwide capacity (38). Therefore, there is

339 high potential for development in the field of refrigerants treatment, particularly when

340 cement plants are located close to or are easily accessible to sources of refrigerants.

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341

342 Increasing population, rapid urbanization, and improving living standards have greatly

343 accelerated electronic and electrical device purchases and subsequent e-waste generation in

344 many less developed economies where adequate e-waste management is still lacking. The

345 management of obsolete RACs has thus become a significant challenge for the

346 climate-resilient transition of not only China but many other countries as well. For example,

347 India is second only to China for processing imported e-waste and the world’s fifth largest

348 country in domestic generation. However, only approximately 5% of India’s e-waste

349 (including scrap RACs) is safely recycled due to poor infrastructure, incomplete legislations,

350 and unenforceable regulatory frameworks (39). In West Africa, e-waste recycling is dominated

351 by informal activities, which include collection, manual dismantling, open burning, and open

352 dumping of residual fractions. More advanced or costly treatment processes, such as

353 degassing and recovering refrigerants from RACs are not available (26). As the world’s largest

354 producer and consumer of RACs, China has the responsibility to create effective scrap RAC

355 management systems that ensure the collection and destruction of these waste refrigerants.

356 China’s approach to address the ODP and GWP impacts of refrigerants in RACs could

357 consequently benefit other countries as well.

358

359 Supporting Information.

360 The Supporting Information contains more detailed background, literature review, methods,

361 survey results, limitations, calls for future research, and comparison with other countries.

362 Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at ***.

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363

364 Acknowledgements.

365 H.D. acknowledges financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China

366 (21507090), the Huoyingdong Education Foundation (151079) and the FECO Foundation of

367 MEP (C/III/S/17/317). G.L. acknowledges financial support from Danish Council for

368 Independent Research (6111-00555B), Danish Agency for Science, Technology and

369 Innovation (5132-00029B and 6144-00036), National Natural Science Foundation of China

370 (41728002), and Chinese Geological Survey (121201103000150015).

371

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