Is it not about time that our major suppliers of refrigerant stopped using non-refillable or disposable cylinders (call them what you will)? A worldwide ban on the use of such cylinders would be better but, in reality, probably a little less easy to achieve.

Europe banned their use in 2007 and countries such as Canada and Australia have introduced similar prohibitions. These bans were made for solid environmental reasons: in addition to the fact that these were throw-away items, a "heel" of gas (either global warming or ozone-depleting, or both) is inevitably left behind on disposal.

So, just from the point of view of the environment there are sound reasons for doing away with them but more than that, these cylinders are the container of choice for the counterfeiter. Cheap and untraceable, no counterfeiter is going to get any comeback from their customers using this type of packaging.

There are criminals out there who are mixing dangerous cheap cocktails of refrigerants and passing them off as R134a, R22, or whatever. Apart from the fact that some of the components of these cocktails can be ozone depleting or flammable, they are probably inevitably less efficient and are liable to pollute the stock of reclaimed gases in the future. In addition, they are potentially dangerous and, in the case of the current methyl-chloride-containing fake R134a, proven to be deadly.

Counterfeiting is likely to get worse. R22 is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive in countries that are still widely dependent on this gas.

And what happens when R1234yf becomes the standard refrigerant in car air conditioning? The markedly higher costs of this new refrigerant compared to R134a, will provide an even more lucrative market for the counterfeiters. Ironically, instead of passing a mixture of other gases off as R134a to make money, they will actually be able to pass off R134a as 1234yf and still make a heap of cash. Of course, the sky's the limit for those who still have a ready access to a whole heap of CFCs and HCFCs.

If the legitimate refrigerant manufacturers no longer supplied refrigerant in disposable cylinders, there would be nothing for the counterfeiters to copy? They would not be able to pass off their cocktails as legitimate well-known brands.

Much of the manufacturers' current efforts to track down counterfeiters could be scaled back, they could promote the safety and assurance implicit in the purchase of their branded products, the companies still using refillable cylinders would be increasingly marginalised, as would the counterfeiters.