Industry groups that continue to use CFCs, HCFCs and HFCs have accepted their responsibility to discard the refrigerants in an environmentally acceptable way. In 1993, a trust was formed by the New Zealand Institute of Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers with one objective in mind: to promote and facilitate the collection, storage and disposal of all ozone depleting substances during the phasing out period. As synthetic greenhouse gases have emerged the trust’s activities have been extended to include collection and disposal of these contributors to global warming.

The trust has recently changed it’s name from Trust for the Destruction of Ozone Depleting Substances to Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants to better reflect the enlarged scope of refrigerants now covered by the trust’s activities.

The RECOVERY programme is funded through a wholesale levy that is placed on every kilogram of imported ozone depleting refrigerant and other synthetic refrigerants with global warming potential. The process, which is provided at no charge to industry participants, includes the provision of secure transfer units and storage tanks to hold unwanted refrigerants. From accredited collection depots in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, the refrigerants are transferred to overseas destruction facilities.

The trust, known as RECOVERY, also consults with environmental groups and reports regularly to Government through the Minister for the Environment.

Without RECOVERY's efforts to encourage industry support and compliance through effective product stewardship, harmful refrigerant gases would continue to be lost into the Earth's atmosphere.