The initial phase out of HydroChloroFluroCarbons began for most developed countries in the early 2000s. Here in the United States the first big step that we took was in 2010 when the phase out of R-22 Refrigerant began. It was a staggered process as most phase outs have been. In 2010 no new R-22 machines could be manufactured or imported into the United States. In 2015 the import and production capacities of R-22 were cut significantly. Production will be cut yet again in the year 2020 to almost nothing. Finally, by the year 2030 all imports and production of HCFC refrigerants, including R-22, will be banned across the United States.
Malaysia
This layout was much the same for the rest of the world. However, there were exceptions made for the more undeveloped countries of the world such as Malaysia. Earlier this week the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Datuk Ir Hamim Samuri, announced that their country hopes to have HCFC refrigerants completely phased out by the year 2030.
Malaysia had already taken their first step of phase out in the year 2013 by freezing the import levels of HCFCs based off of their 2009 and 2010 numbers. To put it simply, they could not import any more refrigerants than what was imported during the 2009/2010 season. On top of that Malaysia has also been pushing it’s various companies to switch over to HFC or natural refrigerants instead of using HCFCs. So far seventeen companies have switched over and they are hoping for an additional one-hundred companies to switch in the following year.
Summary
It will continue to be a long and slow process but the usage of HCFCs across the world are slowly but surely going away. The developed countries have all but phased out the HCFCs entirely and the third world countries are not far behind. The fear of damaging the O-Zone is real and the world is responding accordingly.