Dispose of Your Refrigerator Responsibly

Everyone at some point in their homeowner or condo-owner lifetime will be stuck with the task of replacing an old refrigerator. This should be an exciting time! All those new shiny stainless steel models with the subzero temperatures and wide double door freezers! You’re probably giddy with excitement… woohoo!! But first you should ask yourself, self, what do I do with the old fridge that’s still in my kitchen? Give it to my friend? Leave it for my garbage man? Put it in the garage to never be seen again?! Wait, how do I even get this back-breaker out and down the stairs anyways? Hopefully we at the Stamford Junk Pros can shed some light on this topic for everyone. 

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First thing is to understand why it is important to take care of and properly dispose of your refrigerator. Refrigerators have what is called Freon inside and this is referred to as a refrigerant, hence the name refrigerator, and is a toxic chemical used to cool the air passing through the mechanism of the fridge and into the box to keep the perishable goods cold. A little history for you, practical household refrigerators were introduced in 1915 and gained wider acceptance in the United States in the 1930s as prices fell and non-toxic, non-flammable synthetic refrigerants such as Freon-12 (R-12) were introduced. However, Freon damaged the ozone layer, causing the government to issue a ban on its use in new refrigerators and A/C units in 1994. The less harmful replacement for R-12, R-134a (tetrafluoroethane), has been in common use since 1990, but Freon-12 (R-12) is still found in many old systems today. This is why it is very important to dispose of refrigerators properly so we can extract the chemicals and recycle the metal for secondary usage.

Same goes for old style freezers and meat lockers. These appliances must be recycled the same way as to prevent environmental damage. Local scrap yards will allow you to drop these appliances off and will crush and shred them to parts and recycle the materials.  Call your local Stamford junk removal company to find out more information on how they properly recycle these appliances and how much they charge. Please be aware that if your refrigerator is located up a flight or even two flights of stairs, there may be a surcharge for the difficulty of the removal process. Paying a professional junk removal company in the Stamford, CT area is worth every penny because you can rest assured they will take care of your home and do everything they can to remove the appliance in one piece without damaging your walls, ceiling, or linoleum floor.  

Luckily for residents in Fairfield County, CT there are plenty of junk removal companies ready and willing to help relieve you of this problem. If you were living out in the middle of nowhere, this may be a bigger issue. Junk removal companies in the Stamford, CT area are definitely the way to go with this type of service because they are the people that are generally most concerned with how things are disposed of. The professionalized companies have a moral obligation to see that these types of machines are disposed of responsibly. Ask your local junk removal provider how they handle recycling refrigerators and make your choice from there. Always keep in mind that improper recycling may not affect your lifetime but may affect the generations to come.