In the United States, the Section 608 of the Clean Air Act of 1990 requires that used refrigerant be processed by a certified reclaimer, which must be licensed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the material must be recovered and delivered to the reclaimer by EPA-certified technicians.
When these units are serviced, there is a risk that refrigerant gas will be vented into the atmosphere, hence the creation of technician training and certification programs in order to ensure that the material is conserved and managed safely.
The EPA implemented a Code of Federal Regulations in 1995[3] in order to develop actions to meet the agreements defined in the Montreal Protocol.
In most cases wholesale distributors provide this service as an intermediary, since they have such great resources to manage distribution.
AHRI also works with many participants in the industry to ensure that the standards that reclaimers are expected to achieve are well defined and support the highest level of integrity so technicians can be confident in the materials they are using and installing.