One of the biggest problems I have with trashouts is the fact that most people believe it is mandatory to leave behind three old refrigerators! Because of EPA regulations items with freon can not just be thrown into landfills etc. Here, I can't even take them to the scrap yard unless a "certified tech" removes the freon. Any ideas what to do with old refrigerators? I called the city but they won't take them and had no ideas. I had one guy taking them removing the freon and selling them for scrap, but that market has decreased so much it is not worth his time any longer. HELP!!!

Have you tried leaving them in a dark corner of the city parking garage? Just joking, of course!

If it is outside, please remove the doors before some kids decide to use it for a clubhouse. Life expectancy is very short inside a refrigerator.

In my area there is a place that hauls old appliances for $25. Sears uses them to remove your appliances when you buy new ones. Maybe someone at Sears can suggest someone.

The Edison company will pick them up and pay you $35 each when they do. The program is intermittent, depending on how many they have accumulated.

You might want to look under appliance recycling, too. There are a few places that will pick them up at no charge, then fix and sell them. We've had recyclers meet us at jobsites so we don't have to move them at all, which is really nice.

Linda

Edison will give you $50.00 for old refrigerators, but they must be in working condition. You have to leave them plugged in for at least 24 hours before pickup. Check arrives in the mail in less than 2 weeks.

Here is the deal on appliances especially refrigerators. The dumps charge an addititional fee here for the so called recycing of the freon which is worth about $350 a can now. Here they charge $20 for the fridge plus the weight at $42 a ton. We take all dead or iffy appliances to the major recycler in town and we get $7-$10 each for scrap. We do not clean them or remove the funky stuff from the inside, we tape them shut and drop em. They crush it all anyway freon and all. I would never dump anything that someone out there will pay me for. In this biz you need to keep every dollar on the table to be highly profitable. We sell what we can sell, donate what we cant and recycle everything possible--All to avoid dump fees. We save thousands a month in this area alone. You can also get rid of landscape materials and building supplies at your local Habitat for humanity outlet, they will take almost anything.

We also recycle ours. We save them until we get a few then take them all at once. I never thought about Habitat for Humanity. Thats a great idea. I will look into that. Thanks.

~Compassionate Cleaners

There was a guy on the news recently that did that. The cameras caught him pulling into the garage und unloading all his crap in the middle of the night and leaving. He was charged but they never said for what, ot what the penalty was.

It made me chuckle though.

PPL (formerly PP&L not sure why they dropped the &) here in PA will do the same thing - http://www.pplelectric/recycle

Appliance must be working. They will also take air conditioners.

Funny story about an old fridge. REO of mine goes pending in VA in late summer. Fridge is full of food that had gone bad. Trash out guys would not touch the thing it was so foul. Buyer writes into the deal fridge to be removed. Okay seller agrees, trash out guy comes back out for another fee and removes it. A week later the buyer asks to keep the fridge. Funniest and saddest part about it is trash out guy told me he put it on the curb in another area of town and watched it get snatched up after 20 minutes.

Here neither the dump or recyclers will take old frig with the compressor in the unit. You have to have a "certified" freon remover to remove the compressor and have documentation before anyone will take it as junk or recylce. Getting rid of working units are no problem! It is the "bad ones" that get difficult.
But, I have found a guy that will take all of mine, not matter condition etc. It is nice to know I don't have to haul them around or store them anymore! One less problem! Thanks for all the input.

So what happens if you pick up a frig that the compressor has already been removed? How do they handle that without a "certified" removal.

Call 800-GOT-JUNK and see if those guys can help you out.


-AP

I read about a guy who used old refrigerators to build a fence - yes, he had acres of land out in the boonies. It's a true story in Stop Clutter from Stealing Your Life, an excellent book by Mike Nelson.

There are plenty of cow pastures across the state here where that would work, metroman.

But I am glad you found someone who will take them.

That's one of the items that has begun plaguing the local Storage Locker Business.

People will rent a locker for a month, paying cash; load it up with old Frigs (and other toxic junk, old paint, tires, etc), and then they'll abandon the locker . . . . Voila’, Problem Gone!

Hey thats a good idea!,
I hate a nasty maggot filled stinking to high heaven refrigerator full of food that’s been without power for about 2 months in warm weather, (smell, gag gag puke)
the only thing worst is a overflowing soiled toilet with maggots in the summer time, (smell, gag gag puke)

I have found to put myself in a happy place while completing some jobs,

Post an ad on Craigslist for FREE scrap metal. Set it out when you arrive. By the time you leave it should be gone. No hassles on your end. This is what works here. If there are several, we just haul them direct to the local recycler and they crush them and give us about $8 each for them even with all the funky food inside, freon and all. It amazes me how different things are from area to area. In Phoenix, anything you want to get rid of will fly away from the street as long as it is usable to someone. I love it when the neighbor walks over and says hey I will give you 10 bucks for that and I will move it for you. BONUS....Bud Light Money for later.

I have noticed that if you say "FREE", people will often ignore it for days, thinking that it's just trash; BUT if you put out a sign saying "FOR SALE" with a price like $10.00 . . . . then they'll take it away when you're not looking.