Over the weekend my GF decided to get rid of her old air conditioner. She replaced it a couple years ago with a more powerful, quieter, and probalby more energy efficient one. The old one sat on her deck for a few season and went through a couple floods.
Trying to sell it after that seemed like a bad idea.
And we didn't want anyone else in the apartment building to acquire it for free let the entire building burn down.
But you can't just throw an air conditioner down the trash chute. For one thing, it's heavy. For another, it doesn't fit through the opening. Finally, the sanitation department has a problem with people just leaving appliances in the trash.
What's the solution? In Seattle, we have to take such things to a recycing center.
King County lists a bunch of them on its website. We took her old air conditioner to Total Reclaim, which also collects TVs, monitors, computers, and all sorts of other things you aren't supposed to just throw out. They had pallets of that stuff.
It was a short drive down there, and the hours were fairly convenient.
And they were happy to take the old, noisy, dead, potentially dangerous air conditioner for $50. That's right, we had to pay $50 so they would accept the air conditioner for proper recycling and disposal.
It's a bit of sticker shock. I don't know if it's a ridiculous price, although it certainly feels that way. I suppose that's how much it costs when you consider the chemicals, labor, and energy involved. Still, it's frustrating.
But I guess it's better than dropping it off a ferry.
11 comments:
Heya Croemly,
Don't you hate that, you try to do the right thing and you have to pay for it.
That is kinda harsh though, here in Aus our council comes around once a week and will pick up anything non standard or too large. All we have to do is call ahead and get a special pickup booked.
Stuart
Hi Cromley,
Stuart is pretty much right; except here in Queensland we have to fit it in the bin or you have to take it to the dump / tip, they only charge AU$4.00 for that privilege though.
Seems a bit rich when you try to do the right thing and get hit a $50.00 'fine' for your efforts.
I bet that the local Government there can't figure out why there are a lot of old aircons and other similar items in their creeks and lakes...
$50?! That's outrageous! It's a shame the GF didn't keep it in the house for those few seasons. You could've listed it on Freecycle in your area and given it to someone that needed one.
You did what you had to do to dispose of it properly. Too bad it cost $50 to do it!
Wow, I think the $50 is a bit much, it only costs us $10 here and they come and pick it up on trash day.
I might be tempted to find a lake for that fee....no I am a Boy Scout Leader, must teach by example :)
Why not smash it up and then throw it away? Or you could have freecycled it and stated the issues. Lots of people like free stuff they can fix.
All I have to say is: Yikes!!!
If you were here in Manila, people would get the old aircon from your dumspter. And if you still have old things there that you want to get rid of, send it here in Manila. People would gladly accept your old stuffs!
Wow, that is harsh. Certainly doesn't encourage people to go to the effort to recycle!
And further to Stuart's comment (hi hun!), in Aus we also have council pick-ups every so often and all you have to do is leave stuff on the side of the road to be collected.
@stuart, andrew tunney, erin, and sassy: It's frustrating. I suppose the alternative is to have those costs built in to the taxes.
@dirty laundry diva: I thought about freecycling or Craig's List or something like that. Even stating the issues, though, I'd still be concerned about the liability issues. Even disclosing the issues, if something went wrong, would not prevent someone form engaging in legal action. Even though I might win, I wouldn't want to deal with that.
@live, laugh, blog: Sadly, she lives in a small studio apartment so indoor storage was not an option.
@allure: I wonder how much it would cost to ship to Malaysia...
Some people are purchase your old one stuff in our area don't know about yours, I think it is the best way to get rid of your old air condition.
IF anyone like to dispose of their Air conditioning ,then please let me know I will Purchase it .I am doing broward county air duct cleaning business
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