How To Dispose Of A Window Air Conditioner

America throws out some six 1000000 window air conditioners every yr, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. If yours will exist joining those ranks as the summertime winds down—perchance information technology'south broken, maybe after all this estrus you've resigned to moving to the Yukon before June rolls around again—yous should know that tossing an AC is not every bit simple as hauling the unit of measurement to the adjourn. In fact, information technology's actually illegal to smuggle your Air-conditioning to a landfill with the residuum of your trash.

That'due south considering ACs contain refrigerant, which can contribute to climate change. In older appliances, these are chlorofluorocarbons (y'all might know them by their nickname, CFCs). Newer units contain hydrochlorofluorocarbons or hydrofluorocarbon. Yep, all of those names audio the same—don't worry most distinguishing between the three of them, because they're all pretty bad for the environment. All 3 human action equally greenhouse gases if released into the atmosphere, and with the exception of the final one, volition deplete the ozone layer. If your AC winds up in a landfill with the refrigerants still inside, they will leak out and go into the sky and wreak havok.

We do a diverseness of things that are kind of bad for the environment all the time—including using electricity to run ACs in the first identify—so what's then bad virtually taking this particular life shortcut? A lot. Refrigerants are such powerful greenhouse gases that venting the refrigerant inside a single AC unit boosts the greenhouse effect as much equally driving a motorcar over 3,000 miles, according to EPA spokesperson Melissa Harrison. Basically, carelessly throwing out an Air-conditioning unit has roughly the same environmental impact as taking a road trip from Seattle to Miami. (It'due south less fun, too—or at least involves fewer Spotify playlists).

For these reasons, knowingly venting refrigerants tin run yous upwards to $37,500 a day in federal fines, Harrison said, which ways that your garbage collector probably won't even pick upwardly your unit if you put it curbside.

Don't worry, though. Doing the climate-friendly thing may not be much of a nuisance if y'all alive in a urban center where window ACs are mutual:

New York City

A few cities accept municipal services that will come pick up your air conditioner. If you are in New York Urban center, you can brand an appointment with the Department of Sanitation using this online form. You'll leave the unit curbside, and someone will come remove the CFCs on the designated twenty-four hour period. They'll then tag the appliance and it will be removed on the next trash solar day. (It's a practiced idea to leave a note on the unit of measurement to signal that it's broken and so that no one else picks it up.)

Los Angeles

In Los Angeles, you tin schedule a pickup of the unit online or via phone via the information on this page of LA's Urban center Sanitation department's website.

Boston

In Boston, you lot can use the urban center's 311 hotline to schedule a pickup (don't worry well-nigh clogging the line, it'southward designed for nonemergencies like this).

Everywhere else in the US

This guide began with the goal of providing city-by-city advice for having someone booty away an Air-conditioning. But in researching the specifics, we constitute that many cities' sanitation departments simply overlook window air conditioner units. Chicago doesn't accept a curbside pickup program, co-ordinate to Jennifer Martinez, City of Chicago managing director of public affairs. Martinez directed u.s. to a site called Recycle By City, a full general resource for disposing of household items properly, but the entry for Chicago doesn't mention how to take window Air-conditioning units picked up.

This means folks in Chicago, and many other cities, will have to find a local scrap yard that accepts ACs and has the EPA-approved equipment to handle the refrigerant disposal. The Earth911 recycling search is a good resource for finding this data (Martinez suggested Chicagoans check their ZIP codes on Earth911, and nosotros confirmed at that place are several local options.) Just phone call alee to your local middle to ostend they tin handle ACs before making the trip.

The downside, of course, is that you have to practise the driblet-off at a facility yourself. Philadelphia Public Relations Specialist June Cantor suggested to "have a friend, relative or a neighbor help to send the a/c to the nearest sanitation yard [aka sanitation convenience center]." She also had an alternate thought: "Many times we suggest that a commitment person bringing the new a/c take the old one." Nosotros checked with Dwelling Depot to see if they could take them upon delivery of a new unit, and they said no.

One other avenue to consider: Try a private service like i-800-Got-Junk? to arrange a pickup (and expect to pay a minimum accuse of about $200). Not ideal when you're already paying for local sanitation, we know, only if you have the means information technology could be easier than hauling information technology off yourself.

Of form, the best fashion to avoid the headache of tossing an Air-conditioning is to maintain yours and so that you get as many years of apply out of it as possible, per our guide to window Ac units: Clean the filter in one case a calendar month, and at the terminate of the season, drain the water so that mold doesn't build upwards while it'due south in storage.