In the past, people were a lot less environmentally-conscious. In addition to dumping used motor oil, coolant, etc onto the ground, people used to let refrigerant out into the air. In fact, every now and then, I work on a very old air conditioner, and the service instructions inside pre-1992 units specifically say to open the service valves and release the refrigerant to relieve the pressure before system repair or final disposal. Starting in 1993 or newer units, the service information says to recover the refrigerant to relieve the pressure.
Just curious what do with the recovered refrigerant?
The short wavelengths of UV that would ionize the molecules in the oil are all absorbed by the atmosphere.
If there is an oil stain on the driveway, after a long time the hot summer sun seems to make it go away. Is that from UV?
UV won’t do much. It’s the slow evaporation that would have the biggest impact, after absorption into the ground. Plenty of lumps of tarry dirt in old well locations that I’ve visited. Oil stains stay on roads for years here in sunny hot Texas.
Is your driveway asphalt? If so, the oil probably sinks in.
All of the HVAC wholesale distributors take back the filled tanks, and exchange them for a clean, evacuated tank for a fee. It costs approximately $60 plus tax to exchange a 30 LB recovery tank, and approximately $100 plus tax to exchange a 50 LB recovery tank.
As long as the technician has written on the tank what it contains, and is careful to not mix different types of refrigerants in the same tank, the used refrigerant can then be purified and resold (by a professional reclaim company).
All that matters to us (the contractor) or me (the technician) is that the customer has to pay for the labor to recover their used refrigerant, and the disposal fee, which we obviously mark up in order to make a profit.
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The reasons why most businesses fail are. a failure it innovate, poor management practice, and/or a failure of succession planning and very rarely is goverment regulation a factor.
The “junk yard” of 50 years ago with random vehicles sprawled across a field and Crusty behind the counter is now a “Recycler” with a detailed computerized inventory, an on-line presence and access to immediate quotes and futures forcasts on Shredded Scrap Iron, Steel, Copper, etc.bound for China or Brazil.
“Bad business since 2022”? My guess it could have as much to do with the crash in Chinese building construction and the resulting 25% decline in Scrap Steel prices than anything else.
My point is that we’re in a new world that has reached down to Main Street businesses and those who fail to evolve will simply become extinct
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Answered your own question.
:upside_down_face 
:The [[[[[ SNOWMAN ]]]]] : don’t know the difference between his [[[[ NONSENSE ]]]] and a question.
Having a reduced inventory and did not renew the towing license, sounds like planned retirement.
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