The Safe Removal and Disposal of Your Fridge
Knowing what to do with your old or broken fridge can be a headache considering how big and bulky they are. Unfortunately, here at Reliable Skip Hire Kent, we can’t be of a lot of help as fridges are one of the items that we restrict from being out into our skips. This is due to their hazardous nature posing risk to you and our skip operators. If you want to see what other items are prohibited from our skips, you can head to our Waste Restrictions page. That’s why we decided to put together a simple guide of how best to dispose of your fridge. We want to avoid fly-tipping at all costs, so if you follow some of these simple tips and tricks, you’ll be disposing responsibly in no time.
The Fridge Turning Point
Pre 2000, fridges all contained harmful chemicals, one of which was Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). They were found to be very dangerous and under protocol were all removed and replaced with a new type of fridge.
If you think that the fridge you own, is from before 2000 there’s no need to panic because they can still be collected. We suggest calling the company that makes your fridge or a specialist removal team to help you out.
Donation or Selling
Before heading straight for the bin, you should consider whether your fridge still has some life left in it and can be passed onto someone else. There are lots of people in need of fridges and would be glad to take it off your hands if it’s still in working order. There are many charities that you could call to see if you could drop it off to them, or they will come pick it up so they can help get it to those people. You can always also have a think about your family and friends and reach out to see if any of them need a new fridge at the moment.
Another option, if you wanted to make a little bit of money, is to try and sell your old fridge on to someone new. There’s a number of different sights like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, etc that you can advertise it on.
Disposing of Your Fridge
Just because you can’t put a fridge in a skip doesn’t mean there are lots of different ways that you can dispose of your fridge. We want to help you out in any way we can which is why we’ve put together some of the responsible ways you can dispose of your fridge.
- Recycling Centre – This is the standard option for all items that need to be disposed of responsibly, and probably the cheapest. However, we recommend calling the centre before arriving there with your fridge, just in case they don’t accept it. It can also be a pain to try and transport that fridge to the tip so make sure you capable of transporting it before trying.
- Collection Services – There are lots of different companies, sometimes even the manufacturer of the fridge, that will come out and collect the fridge for you. They will then take it to the tip for you and get it responsibly disposed of. These do cost extra, so make sure you do your research so you’re not being overcharged.
- Council – It’s always worth it to ring up your local council to see if they can help you out with your old fridge in any way. Sometimes for a little extra cost, they will come and collect your fridge and dispose of it.
