The Motor Trade Association has joined the board overseeing New Zealand’s incoming regulated product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, ahead of the scheme’s expected start in May 2027.
The MTA is one of four industry associations joining the board of the Trust for the Destruction of Synthetic Refrigerants, alongside the Climate Control Companies Association of New Zealand (CCCANZ), the Institute of Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning Engineers of New Zealand, and the Heat Pump Suppliers Association New Zealand. All four helped co-design the scheme’s framework.
The scheme will target refrigerant recovery, handling and destruction practices across the HVAC&R and automotive sectors, and is intended to lift technical capability across the affected trades.
Automotive involvement matters because synthetic refrigerants are used in the air conditioning systems of almost every vehicle on New Zealand roads, making workshops, dismantlers and dealerships part of the scheme’s reach. The MTA represents more than 4,000 automotive businesses.
“It is important that the scheme is practical, cost-effective and designed in a way that supports businesses to participate and succeed, with minimal complexity or compliance costs,” says CCCANZ chair Gary Reily.
The Government confirmed in June that it would move to a regulated scheme, to be run by the trust, which has operated the voluntary Cool-Safe programme for decades. Emissions from synthetic refrigerant discharges account for around 2% of New Zealand’s total emissions, largely from leaks and poor end-of-life handling, and the regulated scheme will be only the second established under the Waste Minimisation Act, following tyres.
The trust opened the National Refrigerant Destruction Facility at Kawerau in March, a 0 million investment that allows refrigerant gases to be destroyed in New Zealand rather than shipped offshore.
Regulations are continuing to progress ahead of the May 2027 start date.
