In November 2021, Chile launched Refriclaje, a refrigerator replacement campaign, that aims to replace and recycle old and inefficient devices and raise awareness of their impact on the environment, and on the household budget. The campaign will run until 26 December 2021 and hopes to replace 1,600 appliances in that time. It is expected to collect almost 100 tons of material, which will be sent to a recycling plant for environmentally sound management.

Refriclaje marks the culmination of the Accelerating the Energy Transition Towards an Efficient Refrigerator and Freezer Market in Chile project, which is funded by the GEF and aims to transform Chile’s markets to energy-efficient residential refrigerators/freezers. The project is jointly implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme United for Efficiency initiative and the ministries of Energy and Environment, the Superintendency of Electricity and Fuels, and Fundación Chile and is a key component of Chile’s energy efficiency strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change.

In addition to the Refriclaje campaign, the project included:

• Revising regulatory mechanisms, including minimum energy performance standards and labels
• Enhancing monitoring, verification, and enforcement with national laboratories
• Implementation of a national framework for environmentally sound management and Collection and Recycling System Organization (CRSO) business model for used refrigerators/freezers

The logistics of sale and distribution of the new refrigerators is being carried out by the Sodimac e-commerce channel, in conjunction with the manufacturers Samsung, Mabe, Midea, Hisense and Mademsa. Participating consumers can benefit from one of 10 high efficiency fridge-freezers at a 35% discount on the full market price, in addition to the free collection and recycling of their old appliance.

The campaign is restricted to the seven regions and communes which currently have authorized withdrawal and recycling capacities in place. Collections will be coordinated by the Reciclapp company through authorized recyclers for transfer to the Regener plant for recycling and safe recovery of the refrigerant gases.

The campaign launch took place in the Plaza Monumento de Maipú and included representatives of all the partner organisations – Gonzalo Méndez, from the regional secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Guillermo Gonzáles, Head of the Circular Economy Office of the Ministry of the Environment, Angela Oblasser, Sustainability Manager of Fundación Chile, and Pablo Urbina, Deputy Manager of Sustainability at Sodimac.

Tomás Vodanovic, Mayor of Maipú, a commune participating in the campaign, and the host of the launch in November, summarised the importance of the campaign, the project and the implementing partnership, “Today our planet is at risk, and it needs strong responses that allow us to move towards sustainable development … in this task we know that it is essential to coordinate efforts between the public sector, the private sector and civil society. We congratulate Fundación Chile for this initiative to remove and recycle refrigerators, and we invite more companies to promote projects in this line. Only with a cross-cutting commitment from all stakeholders will we be able to meet the climate action goals that we have set for ourselves as a country.”

For further information, contact Roberto Borjabad at roberto.borjabad@un.org.

To download the fact sheet for the Accelerating the Energy Transition Towards an Efficient Refrigerator and Freezer Market in Chile project, click here.