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posted by janrinok on Tuesday June 26 2018, @10:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the he-would-say-that-wouldn't-he? dept.

In a followup to a story previously on Soylent News: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/05/17/022243

It seems that at least part of an unexpected increase in CFC-11 (an ozone depleting chemical) is due to small factories in China manufacturing the chemical for use in making Styrofoam insulation for refrigerators. The normal alternative, HCFC-141b is expensive and in short supply. The illegal factories are set up, run for a time until discovered and then move to a new location. In addition to being cheaper, CFC-11 gives a better foaming action than the ozone safe alternative.

"You had a choice: Choose the cheaper foam agent that's not so good for the environment, or the expensive one that's better for the environment," said Zhang Wenbo, owner of a refrigerator factory here in Xingfu, in Shandong Province, where he and many other small-scale manufacturers said that until recently, they had used CFC-11 widely to make foam insulation.

"Of course, we chose the cheaper foam agent," Mr. Zhang said during an interview in his office. "That's how we survived."

As it happens, a crackdown was underway in the town and moments later, four officials entered Mr. Zhang's factory, handed him a leaflet warning against a range of environmental violations, including using CFC-11, and ordered his factory closed.

"They never told us until last year that it was damaging the atmosphere," Mr. Zhang said. "Nobody came to check what we were using, so we thought it was O.K."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/24/world/asia/china-ozone-cfc.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @12:41PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 27 2018, @12:41PM (#699264)

    Aaand we single out China... why exactly? We can only separate ourselves by degree, not character.