The UK's first fridge and freezer recycling plant has been opened in Newport, south Wales. It will be Europe's largest dedicated fridge recycling facility, dealing with around 400,000 domestic and commercial appliances a year from across Britain.
Around 30,000 units are waiting to be disposed of in the city alone, following a change in European environmental laws.
The multi-million pound investment, unveiled on Monday, has been assisted with funding from the Welsh Assembly.
A European law which came into force at the beginning of this year requires that gas be extracted and destroyed before the rest of the refrigerator is recycled.
This means the appliances can no longer be exported to developing countries or buried underground - the fate that once befell most of the 2.5 refrigerators thrown out every year.
But treating them properly needs specialist equipment.
More dedicated disposal and recycling plants are being built and the backlog should be cleared by the end of next year.
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