NEW YORK STATE — The most impactful thing an individual could recycle is a window air conditioner. Other refrigerant-containing appliances would closely follow: dehumidifiers, refrigerators and freezers.

There are large questions about the positive impacts from recycling many things these days, but the metals in refrigerant-containing appliances clearly have a good value, because there are active markets for recycled metals, and using recycled metals reduces the need to mine and process new metals. 

More significantly, refrigerants are the key ingredient that makes proper recycling such an important contribution to the health of our planet.

Up until 2010, the most common refrigerant used in air conditioners was R22, which contributed a little bit to the problem of ozone depletion—but pound for pound on a 20-year time frame, R22 is considered at least 5,000 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. 

Up until 2025, the most common refrigerant used in air conditioners was R410A, which has no ozone depletion potential, but is more than 4,700 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. 

When we take into account that an average air conditioner has nearly a pound of refrigerant, the EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator tells us recovering refrigerant from a single air conditioner would prevent the same CO2 emissions as would be prevented by recycling more than 150 trash bags of waste instead of sending them to be landfilled. (That does not include the impact of recycling the metals.) 

Granted, recycling can solve other problems besides the imbalance of CO2 in our atmosphere, but what other recyclable product could have such a high impact?

How are we supposed to recycle these appliances?

Throughout New York State, each county is different. In Westchester, it’s free to most residents, but other counties have no services for recycling appliances or leave appliance recycling to municipalities. In Sullivan County and Orange County, anyone can take an appliance to a county transfer station and pay a $15 fee per appliance. 

Sadly, very few of us get over the hurdles of figuring out what to do with these appliances, schlepping the appliance to the correct location, and paying the fee. Instead, a large share of the appliances are set out curbside and tend to be picked up by scrap metal collectors who see cash value in their metals. They know the penalty for being caught intentionally venting refrigerant is well north of $1,000, but they also know it’s nearly impossible to be caught.

Another share of appliances will end up deep enough in dumpsters and sanitation trucks that they make it undetected into landfills, where they eventually release their chemicals.  

Most of us rarely have to deal with recycling these appliances, so how are we supposed to remember what to do? Consider putting duct tape on the back of your appliance and using a Sharpie to write yourself a note: “Retirement Plan: County Transfer Station!”

Coolest Recycling Drives

Since 2023, New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management has partnered with a variety of organizations in Orange and Ulster counties to conduct Coolest Recycling Drives. These drives focus on (1) publicizing the importance of properly recycling refrigerant-containing appliances, (2) making it easy to participate by holding local drop-off events, and (3) offering the service for free to anyone with an appliance. 

After collecting 130 appliances in a collaboration with Sustainable Warwick the first year, the following year they also collaborated with Sustainable Hudson Valley and others to collect 500 appliances and later with Climate Smart Woodbury to get another 50 appliances. 

This year they have a drive underway in Orange County, another drive planned for Ulster County in May, and are planning a new expansion to Dutchess County in the fall of 2025. If your organization (like a Lions or Rotary Club), Citizens Advisory Council or Climate Smart Communities task force would like to collaborate with New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management in your area, connect via email: NY4Cool@gmail.com.

Michael Helme is a volunteer environmentalist. Over the last 10 years he has supported community environmental action in Warwick, including projects on gardening and local agriculture, energy efficiency, transitioning homes and vehicles to zero emissions, going solar, and plant-based diets. Since Project Drawdown came out, he has been particularly drawn to understanding the ultra cool topic of refrigerant management and looking for community-based actions to lower refrigerant emissions.