Guidance

Recovering, reclaiming and recycling F gas

How to recover fluorinated gas (F gas) from equipment and get it reclaimed or recycled.

• From: Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
• Published: 21 August 2019
• Last updated: 18 April 2023 — See all updates

A technician with qualifications to work with F gas must recover F gases from equipment, including when it’s reached the end of its life.

You must recover F gas from:

• commercial or industrial refrigeration systems
• refrigeration systems in trucks, trailers, ships and other vehicles
• stationary air conditioning (fitted to buildings and can’t be moved)
• portable or mobile air conditioning systems
• stationary heat pump systems (fitted to buildings and can’t be moved)
• stationary fire protection systems (for example, automatic fire suppression systems in large buildings)
• high voltage switchgear

For equipment not listed above, F gas must be recovered if it’s technically feasible and the cost is proportionate.

You must use a registered waste carrier to send the recovered waste F gas (or the whole unit) to a licensed waste facility that accepts waste F gas and ozone-depleting substances (ODS).

You can email f-gassupport@environment-agency.gov.uk for advice.

It is against the law to release F gas into the atmosphere on purpose unnecessarily. If you do, you could be prosecuted or get a civil penalty. See the Environment Agency enforcement sanctions policy.

If you see someone release F gas into the atmosphere on purpose, report it to f-gassupport@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Recovering F gas from aerosols

It’s not cost effective to recover F gas from individual aerosols like spray paints or deodorants.

If you collect or use large quantities, you should send them to a licensed waste facility that accepts waste F gas and ODS so they can get it reclaimed, recycled or destroyed.

Get your F gas reclaimed or recycled

Reclaimed F gas is reprocessed to the standard of virgin (unused) F gas.

You can send recovered F gas to a licensed waste facility that accepts waste F gas and ODS to get it reclaimed, recycled or destroyed.

If you do, you must use a registered waste carrier.

This applies to both:

• F gas that can be removed from equipment and transported separately
• F gas incorporated into the equipment, for example in foam

The rules apply to all:

• refrigerants
• hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in foam insulation
• HFCs used in fire protection systems
• sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆) from high voltage switchgear
• propellants from aerosols
• solvents

Using recycled F gas

Recycled F gas is re-using F gas following a basic cleaning process.

Recycled F gas with a global warming potential of more than 2,500 can only be used in equipment owned or operated by the:

• company that owned the refrigeration system from which the F gas was recovered
• company that carried out the recovery

Calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent quantity of an F gas using its global warming potential.

Published 21 August 2019
Last updated 18 April 2023 + show all updates

1. 18 April 2023

   Changed the links for licensed waste facilities from the Environmental Permitting Regulations – Waste Operations to a new GOV.UK page called ‘Licensed waste facilities that accept waste F gas and ODS’. Made minor tweaks to content for clarity including deleting duplicated content.

2. 3 November 2022

   Removed outdated dates. Updated links to find licensed waste facilities. Updated page to improve flow of information.

3. 21 August 2019

   First published.