NAFED Conference in Las Vegas - March 8, 2012

Halon Banking Systems' booth in Las Vegas.
Hope to see you in Atlantic City and New Orleans!

Who else wants to properly bank Halon?

    According to a 2010 Report of the Halons Technical Options Comitee, there are still countries in the world where because of a prohibition on halon exports, cross-contaminated halons are a financial liability and are reported to be vented to the atmosphere:

  "Global Halon 1211 and 1301 Banking

   Halon banking is a critical part of the management of halons.
Halon Bank Programmes must be accessible to all halon users or the risk of accelerated atmospheric emissions will escalate as users find themselves with redundant stock.

   Halon banking operations can play a significant role in ensuring the quality and availability of recycled halon, in managing the halon use down to zero, and in assisting with emission data by providing regional estimates that should be more accurate than global estimates. National or regional banking schemes that maintain good records offer the opportunity to minimise the uncertainty in stored inventory and stock availability.
   There are companies available globally that will purchase and “clean” cross-contaminated halons; however, in some countries, because of a prohibition on halon exports, cross-contaminated halons are a financial liability and are reported to be vented to the atmosphere."
 2010 REPORT OF THE
HALONS TECHNICAL OPTIONS COMMITTEE.

Halon phase-out

" Halon Phase-out:

The 1992 Meeting of the Parties in Copenhagen decided to phase out consumption and production of halons in developed countries by January 1^st, 1994. Parties operating under Article 5 of the Montreal Protocol have a 10-year grace period where production for basic domestic needs is still allowed. In addition, Parties can ask for an exemption on production and consumption for essential end users under certain conditions.

At the same meeting, the Parties decided to allow unrestricted trade of recycled halons provided that the relevant data are reported to the UNEP under the procedures of the Protocol. These decisions make an orderly transition to fire protection without halons possible.

Existing valuable or critical installations can be protected  by halons until other arrangements have been made. In addition, the decisions allow time to for alternative means of protection to be developed for installations where other fire extinguishing systems are not adequate.

The importance of halon banks:

These decisions have made it important to plan for the recycling and reuse of halons. This will:

·         Facilitate the transfer of available halon from one user to satisfy the need s of another;

·         Discourage emissions into the atmosphere ;and

·         Mitigate the need for consumption and production exemptions for  “essential users”

If global-banking can be made more productive it will mean that halon 1301 will be available for several decades and halon 1211 for at least 10 years. International cooperation is needed to ensure that one nation’s surplus halon is exported to meet the need s of another nation. This especially true for developing nations which have minimal internal banks due to their restricted number of installations.”

Halon Management: Banking for the Future - UNEP IE/PAC