Cold Link Africa January/February 2018 | Page 47

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN Appeal to DEA not to ban disposables By Trevor Dyer of AC&R Components R eference is made to the article “Renewed call to ban disposable refrigerant cylinders in SA” in the May/June 2017 edition of Cold Link Africa. I do not believe for one moment that the primary concern for banning disposables is to safeguard the environment, but rather to gain from the capture of a larger share of the refrigerant market. Strangely, those that call for the ban are themselves large importers of disposables. An alternative to disposables is for all refrigerants to be supplied in refillables. Already there is a dire shortage of the much-talked-about reclaim cylinders. Let us consider some of the consequences: 1. Which supplier has the capacity to handle the thousands of big refillable cylinders that will be required to service the industry? Can you imagine the catastrophic situation should we find ourselves short of cylinders? This can bring the supermarkets, the wine industry, and in fact, the refrigeration industry into crisis. 2. Contractors are constantly getting work outsi