Many residents struggle to figure out what to do with a refrigerant-containing appliance when they can no longer use it. Sometimes the only option is to schlep it to a municipal transfer station (which can be inconvenient) and pay a fee (which can range from $10 to $40). When we hold Coolest Recycling Drives, we publicize how important it is to have these appliances properly recycled. We also make it easy, by holding local drop-off events, and free – we cover all costs. 

Do you have an organization in New York State or beyond that would like to partner? The rest of this web page explains how to set up and run a Coolest Recycling Drive. We’d be delighted to respond to questions on this topic. ny4cool@gmail.com

What happens at drop-off events?
What do the volunteers need to do?

Many of our fellow citizens have deep concerns about the climate crisis, yet are not sure what they can do to help out or constantly feel like they are not doing enough. Against this background, volunteers often find working at drop-off events is very gratifying. Here are the general duties of drop-off event volunteers:

1. Greet appliance contributors and help unload appliances. As vehicles come in with appliances to drop off, volunteers tell drivers where to park and help unload appliances. It’s also important to give a friendly greeting and we often also ask about how they heard about that day’s event. (Some of the appliances are heavy and we do not ask volunteers to go beyond whatever they are comfortable lifting; young volunteers with good strength are greatly encouraged to participate in this part of the event.) 

2. Find specs label. Most appliances have a specs label that lists what kind of refrigerant is in the appliance and how much. On older appliances one may need to take the appliance apart to find this label. Sometimes the label is in an awkward position, so the easiest way to read it is to take a picture with a smartphone. Volunteers tend to enjoy learning the tricks of this task. 

3. Input data from specs label. For each appliance, someone inputs on a digital device the type of appliances (e.g., air conditioner or dehumidifier), what kind of refrigerant is in it (the most common types are available in a drop-down list), and how many ounces of refrigerant it holds. Here’s a screenshot of the inventory that’s filled out in real time at drop-off events:

4. Interact with appliance contributors. After the inventory spreadsheet is filled in, it automatically calculates the carbon dioxide equivalent that would result from the whole refrigerant charge being released to the atmosphere and how many gallons of gasoline would need to be burned to equal those emissions. For appliance #166 in the screenshot above, a volunteer could tell the person who contributed that appliance: “The 10.8 ounces of refrigerant in your air conditioner, if released to the atmosphere, would act the same as having consumed 196 gallons of gasoline. Thank you for bringing us your appliance today.”  Interactions like this with our fellow citizens are rare and greatly appreciated in these times.  

5. Accept donations. While Coolest Recycling Drives are free, we gladly accept donations. Some people contribute more than it would cost them to use their municipality’s recycling service, while others would not have been able to afford using that service.  

6. Add color-coded tape and preprinted labels to the appliances. Each refrigerant in the inventory is associated with a unique color (blue for R22, light green for R410A, and so forth), and a strip of painters tape with that color is applied to the appliance. Then a preprinted label with numbering is put on top of the tape. 

7. Organize appliances by refrigerant type (tape color). When the refrigerants are recovered from the appliances, each refrigerant is much more valuable if it is not mixed with other kinds of refrigerants. At the central collection site, appliances are grouped by refrigerant type; the color-coded tape helps with this task. In the image below, all of those appliances have blue painters tape and also have the same refrigerant, R22. 

8. Remove appliance covers. To recover the refrigerant from the appliance, the covers have to be removed to expose the copper pipes. At the central collection location, once appliances are organized by type, it makes the refrigerant recovery work go faster if volunteers have removed the covers.

Metal Recycling. After the refrigerant is removed from all of the appliances, there are two options for recycling the metals. The quick and easy option is to sell them whole to a scrap metal dealer as “light iron”. A more labor intensive option is to separate out the cords, copper piping, aluminum piping, compressors, and so forth, and sell them separately to a scrap metal dealer. The latter option requires more work, but it creates higher value recycling materials that sell for significantly more money. 

After the Warwick and Ulster County Coolest Recycling Drives of 2024, we held a press conference near New Paltz Town Hall.

Here are some comments from participants: 

• “New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management are dedicated to preventing potent and harmful greenhouse gases from being released into the environment. NYers4Cool are demonstrating that appliance collection is not only beneficial to the climate but encourages community stewardship of appliances and educates New Yorkers about the importance of understanding common space heating and cooling substances. DEC thanks all those who are doing this critical work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including harmful emissions from refrigerants and cooling equipment, and taking climate action to ensure a cleaner and healthier future,” said  Maureen Leddy, Director of the Office of Climate Change, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

• “Hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, a family of chemicals commonly used as refrigerants in appliances like air-conditioners and refrigerators, are dangerous greenhouse gases when released into the atmosphere, and one of the most impactful things we can do to reduce our impact on the climate is to make sure we properly recycle these appliances so that the refrigerant can be recovered before escaping,” said Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger. “I want to thank New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management and Sustainable Hudson Valley for their successful “Coolest Recycling Drive” in Ulster and Orange Counties, which has kept hundreds of old appliances from damaging the climate, and I applaud their continued work to bolster refrigerant recycling efforts in the Hudson Valley and their advocacy for the transition to safer alternatives in new appliances.”

• "Drawdown scientists have determined that proper refrigerant management is a number one climate solution. These collections help to ensure that the highly potent greenhouse gases are safely evacuated and that the discarded appliances can be recycled.  Handling refrigerant-containing equipment properly is up to all of us," said Manna Jo Greene, Ulster County Legislator and Chair of the Ulster County Climate Smart Committee.

• “If you burn a pound of gasoline, it will create 3.25 pounds of carbon dioxide. If you release a pound of R410A into the atmosphere, it will act like more than 4,000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the next 20 years (and a single air conditioner could have a pound or two of R410A). I am extremely grateful to all the Coolest Recycling Drive volunteers and supporters, who collected more than 500 appliances and helped illustrate what kind of an impact refrigerant management can have,” said Michael Helme, lead volunteer of New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management.

• “The Coolest Recycling Drive shows just how the grassroots and “grass-tops” can work together, with this kind of community action showing both the need for policy change and the citizen organization that can make it happen.  Sustainable Hudson Valley did our homework on Project Drawdown when it was first published, and we were involved in the founding of New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management,” said Melissa Everett, Executive Director of Sustainable Hudson Valley.  “We are so proud of the ‘Cool Ones’ and hope to see New York leading on national refrigerant policy.”

• “Hudson Technologies has long been a proponent of the circular economy for refrigerants and Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM) as a climate mitigation tool.  As average global temperatures rise, energy-efficient refrigeration and cooling systems help to promote healthy communities by keeping vaccines stable, food fresh, economies productive and the environment clean.  Reclamation of HFCs, and other refrigerants, a key aspect of LRM, is crucial to support the installed base of cooling technology during the transition to next-generation lower GWP refrigerants. Hudson is proud to support our local New York communities in the effort to recover, reclaim, and reuse refrigerants,” said  Kate Houghton, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Hudson Technologies.

• “It is critical for our climate that we scale up efforts to prevent emissions of super-pollutant refrigerants. Grassroots community action can achieve impressive results even with very few resources and a lack of enabling policies and incentives. This is just a preview of what is possible if we enact policies and incentives, such as an extended producer responsibility program for refrigerants, that will make refrigerant recovery, reclamation, and destruction standard practice,” said Christina Starr, Senior Manager of the Climate Campaign at Environmental Investigation Agency US.

• "New Yorkers for Clean Power is proud to team up with New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management, Sustainable Hudson Valley, the DEC Office of Climate Change, the Environmental Investigation Agency, and our local partners to support such a successful and impactful Recycling Drive. While the state works diligently to bolster our future recycling and refrigerant recovery programs, it's grassroots efforts like these that lead the way to reduce our emissions while raising awareness about the importance of responsible refrigerant management. We thank the Drive's organizers for their dedication and hard work and can't wait to continue supporting these efforts year-round," said Betta Broad, Campaign Director at New Yorkers for Clean Power.