As reported in Cooling Post Cool-Safe was the first organisation in New Zealand to offer bounty for waste refrigerant, with payments being as direct reinvestment into the sector for their efforts in reducing the environmental harm of F-gases. Cool-Safe has already paid NZ$1.3m (€730,000) and this increase in the per-kg payment for recovered refrigerant will see that reinvestment through bounty payments rise to an expected $1.6m+ (€898,000) per annum.
The Cool-Safe product stewardship scheme is run by the Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants, a charitable trust.
Cylinders containing recovered refrigerant are deposited by refrigeration professionals via an expanding collection network. This is said to have resulted in the avoidance of 39,800 tonnes of ozone depletion and reduced the build-up of greenhouse gases by 1,496,691 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Kawerau, 20 March 2026 – A high-tech plasma torch was lit up today as Minister of Conservation, Hon Tama Potaka, officially opened the $10 million National Refrigerant Destruction Facility.
1 January 2026 marks a major step forward for vocational education in New Zealand, with ten regionally governed polytechnics and eight new Industry Skills Boards officially beginning operation, Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds says.
