GHANA: One of the major destinations for waste refrigerators has been blocked after Ghana announced the full implementation of a ban on the importation of secondhand refrigerators and air conditioning units today.
The ban was first introduced in 2008 but thousands of units, mainly from the European Union, continued to be imported into the country under a quota system until December 31 2012.

Enforcing the ban, Ghanaian authorities began confiscating imported used fridges from various importers who had exceeded their quotas, including the confiscation of two 40-footer containers full of CFC refrigerators. While the export of CFC-containing equipment from Europe is banned under European law, ACR News reported incidences of European customs intercepting illegal shipments of secondhand CFC-containing refrigerators, some bound for Ghana, being disguised as R134a or R600a fridges.

Ghana says that the ban is designed not only to reduce the use of ozone-depleting CFCs and global warming gases but also to reduce the energy consumption of the fridges which are not designed for use in Africa.

More than 600 Ghanaian technicians and engineers were said to have received training on hydrocarbon technology last year with the intention of retrofitting domestic refrigerators. A delegation of technicians also visited Centro Studi Galileo in Italy to receive practical and theoretical training on the safe handling and design of equipment with hydrocarbon refrigerants.