There is one thing for sure about owning or renting a home and that is you will have appliances of many different shapes and sizes in it. Another sure thing in life is that these appliances will at one time or another break down or stop working as efficiently as they once did. Now if it’s something as small as a hairdryer that goes on the fritz, chances are it won’t be too much of a problem, except maybe not looking your best that day. If your hairdryer does poop out on you then you will most probably just pick up a new one the next time you are at the shops and through the old one in the bin.
If it’s a larger appliance like say the vacuum cleaner or washing machine you may first try and get it repaired before deciding on replacing it, if it’s too old to be replaced or the damage is too much cost to be repaired. Getting the old appliance removed can sometimes be a hassle but with so much metal of these old appliances often someone will take it for the scrap value alone. A few old washing machines, dryers and cookers soon mount up to a large pile of cash for someone who is willing to break the units apart.
A refrigerator on the other hand is a far more complicated matter. First you have to consider the age of your old fridge. A new appliance, like a refrigerator, are often much more energy-efficient than their older counterparts, but to make these new appliances may have taken a great amount resources and energy. The next consideration is often the difficult task of getting your old refrigerator recycled, regular garbage collection won’t take them and there may be few places that will have the facilities to accommodate them as well. Many of the old refrigerators made before 1994 will still contain chloro-flouro carbon, better known as the CFC gases that are extremely harmful to the earths ozone layer. Simply removing these gases is not an option these days and the regulation of destruction of old fridges can sometimes make getting rid of them difficult.
We already know that refrigerators are one of the biggest energy users in your house, but they have also become one of the necessities and we would find it hard to live without one. But did you know that an old refrigerator can consume almost 75 more energy than a similar fridge produced today? Simply by replacing a refrigerator that you may have bought in 1990 with a new Energy Star-qualified model you would save enough energy to pay for your full homes light for more than 3 months.
So, even if your old fridge "kinda-works" it is still of great benefit for you to replace it with a new model. As for the recycling issue, if you work a little harder than just asking your neighbor then Im sure you will soon find someone willing to collect it and take it to your nearest community recycling center. If that fails then search on Google for your area code and recycle centers then give them a call and talk to them about it. If that all comes up empty, head on over to earth911.com and find some information about how and were to recycle old refrigerators near to you.
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