It has been more than 20 years since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enacted legislation prohibiting individuals from intentionally venting refrigerants into the atmosphere while maintaining, servicing, repairing, or disposing of refrigeration equipment. Today, recovering refrigerant from a system during major repairs is a routine practice for technicians and contractors.
In addition to prohibiting the intentional venting of refrigerants into the atmosphere, there are several other requirements in Section 608 of the Clean Air Act of 1990 that technicians and contractors must follow. One of these is the recordkeeping of refrigerant usage. Technicians, equipment owners, wholesalers, and refrigerant reclaimers all have some type of recordkeeping responsibility under this law.