Recycle your fridge for savings, cash

Snohomish County PUD continues to offer a conservation program giving $30 to customers willing to give up their old refrigerators and freezers.

Since the program’s inception in 2004, the utility has collected nearly 23,000 energy-wasting units, which could be using up to three times the energy of newer models.

With the program, JACO Environmental, a local appliance recycler, picks up units right from customers’ homes when they call for a collection. The PUD program gives customers a way to recycle units and save energy bills.

To have a refrigerator or freezer picked up and recycled, it needs to be in working condition and between 10 to 27 cubic feet in size. Units also must be 1995 models or older. The program is for Snohomish County PUD customers only. Customers must own the unit being recycled, with a pickup limit of two units per account. The $30 incentive check is mailed to the customer within four to six weeks after the appliance collection.

The collected appliances are recycled at JACO Environmental’s facility in Everett. More than 90 percent of each refrigerator or freezer is recycled.

Safely recycling these older refrigerators may help to slow, stop or even reverse ozone destruction. An average refrigerator contains about 10 pounds of foam insulation and one pound of CFC-11, equivalent to 2.3 tons of carbon dioxide. In the United States alone, 8 million refrigerators and freezers reach the end of their functional life span each year. Unless they are properly disposed of, foam and refrigerant from these old appliances release thousands of tons of ozone-depleting CFC-11 into the atmosphere each year.

For more details or to schedule an appliance pick-up, Snohomish County PUD customers can call toll-free 877-577-0510 or visit www.appliancerecycling.com (select “Rebate Pickup” tab). To help process any requests, customers should have their PUD account number available when placing the call.