Fridge Recycling: Recycle Your Old Refrigerator! 🍨

Fridge Recycling 🍨: You’ve finally decided to replace your refrigerator after all these years.

What made you decide to change it or throw it away? I know one reason, maybe it became a waste of space in your house and now needs to be disposed of. We all have different reasons for replacing or disposing of them.

Now, what do you do with your old one in order to dispose of it properly? Why not recycle it?  That seems like a good idea, right?

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Of course, it is! But the question is how? How is fridge recycling done? For sure, some of the readers here at our blog asked yourselves “How do you even recycle old fridges?”

Let me share with you some news and tips. Also, see our blog about chemical waste recycling and tell us what you think.

A bit about Waster

Before we continue our topic on fridge recycling, let me share more information about Waster.

We here at Waster provide you with innovative solutions for your and your business’s waste management and recycling needs. Additionally, we provide flexible, 30-day contracts instead of the typical lock-in contracts, which proves to be better.

Click on the blue button to learn more.

READ: What Is Wishcycling? ♻️

How do you recycle old refrigerators?

Many of you might be thinking about how recycling an old and worn-out fridge works. In the first place, how can something so big, bulky, full of components, and full of hazardous materials be even recyclable?

Maybe you have hanged photos on your old fridge and want them to be recycled as well? Then, read our other blog about recycling photos and learn if you can recycle photos.

I recently read a blog of Better Homes & Gardens about fridge recycling and would like to share and elaborate on it further with you.

To start off, ask yourselves this first “Is my fridge still working perfectly or not?” If they still are, rethink your decision first and keep it until it becomes inefficient or breaks down. You can also donate it and give it away if you truly don’t want it anymore and want to replace it with a newer model of refrigerator.

Next, if you answered no to the question and your fridge broke down and became inefficient already, then find ways on how to recycle it.

Are you replacing your fridge with its newer and better version? If so, then try contacting the home appliance store you’re buying the new fridge from and ask them if they have a fridge and freezer disposal program. Usually, they offer free removal and recycle it for you!

In the event that you won’t replace your fridge with a newer one and just plan on disposing of it, try contacting your local council and let them pick it up for you for recycling.

Why recycle your old fridge (or any other electronic waste)?

Why is it so important to recycle your old fridge? Here’s why.

Refrigerators contain hazardous parts like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), refrigerants, and other hazardous chemicals which damages the ozone layer.

It is also important to let local recycling centres recycle your old fridge to ensure no e-waste harms the environment.

Might I just add: do not put your old refrigerator in a landfill. E-waste is already ruining the environment.

UNSW researchers said that Australia has poorly implemented e-waste management and legislation.

Professor Graciela Metternicht from UNSW’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences says “What is worrying is that our legislation is unable to keep pace with the amount of e-waste we’re now generating”.

“Our recycling targets may have been good 10 years ago, but they are ineffective today. We recommend the targets be revised,” she added.

To sum it all up, what they’re trying to say is that the legislation should try to support local councils better to help with e-waste pollution. Take for example in Victoria. Did you know that in order to create a more sustainable environment, the Victorian government banned all e-waste from going to landfills?

Implemented last 1 July 2019, it aims to help protect the environment and recover more precious resources.

Fridge recycling: do it yourself

Many people think that old and broken fridges serve no purpose anymore and that they should be sent to landfill instead. I beg to differ.

There are so many creative ways to recycle a fridge. Inspired by Homecrux, let me elaborate some for you. Take note, these are doable ideas even without recycling centres, meaning you can do them by yourself!

• Recycle the fridge as a table. As you may know, fridges are usually made from steel wrapped in plastic. Correspondingly, they can be recycled and transformed into tables.
• Transform old fridge into a kitchen cabinet. Next on our list: transforming your worn-out fridge into a kitchen cabinet. You read that right, your old fridge can be turned into a  recycled cabinet that stores food, wine, pots, utensils, or other items.
• Turn your fridge into a flower pot. Take the fridge drawers out and turn them into plant pots. Grow plants, vegetables, flowers, and herbs with your improvised pot!
• Build a fridge dog house. Imagine yourself going to the pet store or going to your local animal shelter and getting a new dog in the process. Now, you take him home. Should you build a dog house for it? If you ever decide to, look no further and use your fridge as recycled dog house parts!
• Heck, turn it into a sofa! This one on the list takes the icing on the cake. Spearheaded by Canadian designer Adrian Johnson, he creates unique sets of sofa called Fridgecouch. These couches also have built-in side tables (created from the fridge door) and speakers. Sounds amazing, right?

Fridge recycling: creating new fridge from old ones

One time, I asked myself, “Why don’t scientists or researchers find ways to create new fridges from old ones?” Then after minutes of researching on the web, I found a BBC news worth mentioning.

Did you know that the AO Recycling plant in Telford, England does just that? They claim to have found a more environmentally friendly way to dispose of and recycle old fridges.

Watch the video below and learn more.

Basically, what they do is work on the old fridge by ripping it to shreds and keep the sorted pure, white plastic from the old fridge for creating new fridges.

See our blog on recycling boxes.