4 Major Firms Agree to Cut or End Release of Ozone-Depleting CFCs

WASHINGTON — Four giant corporations, responding to growing consumer and governmental concern about the damage that chlorofluorocarbons do to the Earth’s protective ozone layer, have announced over the last week that they will cut back or end their release of the chemicals.

General Motors said that by 1991 it will require its 10,000 car dealers to recycle CFCs purged from automobile air conditioners.

Nissan Motors said that it will end the use of CFCs entirely in its air conditioners by 1993, replacing the coolant with an alternative that does not attack ozone.

AT&T;, which uses CFC solvents and coolants in hundreds of processes, said that it will cut the volume used by 50% by 1991 and end CFC use entirely by 1994.

And GE agreed to offset its much criticized release of 300,000 pounds of CFCs from a nationwide refrigerator repair program by cutting back on releases elsewhere.

CFCs, used in a wide range of manufacturing processes from refrigeration to solvents, are considered something of a wonder chemical because they are non-toxic, non-flammable and stable. But the chemicals are also the prime destroyer of the ozone layer high in the atmosphere that protects Earth’s surface from too much ultraviolet radiation.