You should be prepared for a possible increase in appliance collection costs. You might consider the extra cost as your contribution to protecting the ozone layer. Technicians may no longer simply open a valve and vent refrigerant when servicing a unit. Before choosing a service company, ask about the company's practice of recovering and recycling CFCs and HCFCs. Your EPA regional office has an air quality enforcement officer to take reports of violations of the refrigerant venting prohibition.
Every citizen can play and important role in preserving the ozone layer.
Since banning the use of CFCs in aerosol cans in the late 1970's, the United States has been a leader in the global campaign to halt depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer. In 1987, the United States and 23 countries signed the Montreal Protocol and agreed to cut the production of ozone-depleting substances in half by the year 1998. In June 1990, the Protocol was amended to completely phase out production of ozone-depleting substances by the year 2000. Since then, U.S. production of these chemicals has decreased by nearly 50 percent. Now signed by over 110 nations, the Protocol has since been modified to require a virtual phaseout of CFC production by January 1, 1996.