While most homeowners feel excited about bringing home one or more new appliances, there’s always the question of what to do with the old ones. To entice customers to buy new, appliance retailers may offer free delivery of the new unit and hauling away of the old appliance that no longer works. As people become increasingly concerned about the environment, they can’t help but wonder where their old appliances end up after they no longer need them.

Jaco Environmental: Repurposing Old Refrigerators Nationwide

With 30 facilities across the country, Jaco Environmental recycles over one million discarded refrigerators every year. Slightly over half of these still work but no longer make sense for homeowners to keep from an energy efficiency standpoint. When Jaco receives an old refrigerator from a contracted delivery service, it immediately gets to work dismantling it. Fortunately, it’s possible to recycle most of the 200-pound weight of the typical refrigerator.

An automated hacksaw dismantles each incoming refrigerator for the first step. Next, an employee sorts the various metals by hand for distribution to overseas connections and metal scrap yards. The majority of old refrigerators end up as copper wiring, aluminum cans, and construction materials. Jaco has also won environmental awards for the careful removal and disposal of harmful materials such as polyurethane foam insulation.

What Types of Appliances Can Homeowners Recycle?

Junk haulers can pick up and dispose of most old appliances for a fee. Some items homeowners may want to have removed include:

  • Air conditioners
  • Clothes dryers
  • Dishwashers
  • Freezers
  • Lawnmowers
  • Microwave ovens
  • Ovens and stoves
  • Refrigerators
  • Trash compactors
  • Washing machines
  • Water heaters

Homeowners will want to contact their local junk hauling company for a quote and to doublecheck that it can take any of the above items before buying a new one. If that’s not possible, the homeowner can always look into selling the item at a garage sale, online, or donating it to a local charity.

Upgrading to a More Energy Efficient Home Appliance is Good for the Environment

Appliance manufacturers in past decades weren’t required to follow the same strict criteria to ensure energy efficiency and prevent environmental harm as they must today. That means keeping some old appliances around is more harmful than sending them to a recycling plant due to toxic emissions.

Upgrading to a more energy efficient home appliance is also a good decision from a financial standpoint. Efficiency standards enacted at the federal level in 2014 save people up to 25 percent off their utility bill when operating new appliances. Purchasing a new piece of equipment with the Energy Star label means an additional energy savings of up to nine percent. New wash machines are especially efficient since they use approximately half the water of older units.

The bottom line with upgrading to a more energy efficient appliance is that recycling the old one contributes far less carbon emissions to the environment than continuing to operate it does. The fact that many recycling options exist for old appliances should also bring homeowners peace of mind that they’re doing the right thing in replacing a non-efficient unit.

Fast Haul strives to recycle and/or re-purpose as high of a percentage of the appliances and other unwanted materials we collect as possible. Contact us today to learn more!