End-of-Life Domestic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Equipment in Australia

4.5Material weight at end-of-life for refrigerators

The tonnes of materials by type that are contained within the refrigerators and freezers reaching end-of-life have been estimated for the period 2014 to 2024 by applying a typical weight and material composition to the quantity of units reaching end-of-life.

Typical weight

A typical weight and material composition was estimated by reviewing relevant publicly available literature. The sources identified were reviewed and assessed for reliability, comprehensiveness, currency, and consistency with other sources including industry publications and stakeholder knowledge.

Given the variety of makes and models of refrigerators and freezers, and the existence of changing trends in the size of units and the materials used, there is some variability in the composition. This analysis represents the best possible approach on the available data.

The assumed weight has been developed based on the average of multiple sources. For refrigerators the assumed weight was 80 kg, based on:

• 
  Department of Environment & Heritage, 2001; EPA, 2010
  
• 
  Arcadias Ecolas/RPA, 2008
  
• 
  Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, 2014.
  

For a stand-alone freezer the assumed weight was 52 kg, based on Department of the Environment & Heritage, 2001.

Typical material composition

Refrigerators are predominantly comprised of ferrous metal, non-ferrous metal (brass, copper, aluminium etc), and plastics; which together make up approximately 80% of a typical unit. It is assumed the material composition of refrigerators and freezers will not significantly change over time (Infield, 2007).

A review of the available evidence was undertaken to determine a typical material composition of a refrigerator and freezer. This included the above sources as well as:

• 
  EPA (2010)
  
• 
  United Nations University (2007)
  
• 
  UNEP (2013).
  

These sources were found to be consistent with the Infield report (2007). As such the Infield report (2007) has been taken as the primary reference point with further information drawn from other sources for smaller categories of materials, see Table .

The material composition of a typical refrigerator is shown in graphically Figure and for a typical freezer in Figure below:

Table : A review of available evidence on the material composition of refrigerators and freezers, source: Infield (2007)

Material	Refrigerators	Freezers
Steel	38.1%	66.0%
Non-ferrous metals	4.0%	3.8%
Plastic	19.0%	3.8%
Compressor	13.9%	1.3%
Motor	3.1%	0.6%
Glass	1.7%	-
Foam	4.2%	9.5%
Foam blowing agent	0.2%	0.9%
Oil	0.3%	-
Printed Circuit Board	0.1%	0.1%
Refrigerant	0.3%	0.2%
Other materials^4	15.1%	13.8%
Total	100%	100%

Figure : Material composition of a typical refrigerator, source: Table

Figure : Material composition of a typical freezer, source: Table

Material weight at end-of-life for refrigerators

Applying the standard composition of refrigerator and freezer units set out above, enables the quantity of each material disposed in the period 2014 to 2024 to be estimated, as shown in Figure (numerical values can be found in Table in Appendix C – Data tables).

From this it can be seen that ferrous metal accounts for the largest share of refrigerator and freezer waste, and is expected to grow by 33% from 24,200 tonnes in 2014 to almost 36,000 tonnes in 2024.

Figure : Material composition of refrigerator and freezer waste, source: additional analysis, (note: numerical values can be found in Table in Appendix C – Data tables).

A number of other hazardous materials are contained in refrigerators and freezers including (sources: Arcadis Ecolas/RPA, 2008; EPA, 2010; Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, 2014):

Mercury: 1 gram per appliance

Printed circuit boards components:

• 
  Lead: 93 g
  
• 
  Cadmium: 11 g
  
• 
  Hexavalent chromium: nil (Arcadis Ecolas/RPA, 2008, Table 4.36). .
  

Polychlorinated biphenyls have not been used in manufacture since 1986 and so are assumed to be nil. Reliable data was not obtained for brominated flame retardants however these are not expected to be present in significant quantities in modern appliances (EERA).

There was little corroborating data on the quantities of these minor materials, so the levels should be taken as indicative only. Lifecycle data on electronic equipment (e.g. TVs, computers) tends to focus more on these materials because they are present in higher quantities.

The estimated quantities of hazardous materials present in refrigerator and freezer waste are set out in Table 5.
Table : Estimated total weight (kg) of selected hazardous materials present in refrigerator and freezer waste, source: Arcadis Ecolas/RPA, 2008

Hazardous material	2014	2024
Mercury	775	1,150
Lead	72,000	106,950
Cadmium	8,525	12,650