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This
is a letter we recently received, and wanted to
share with you all.
Hi Folks on the San Bernard,
I've recently become your neighbor -
when I got the white house on AC.R. 469. Even
before I came down to fix ‘ER up, I read about
the problem with old refrigerators being dumped
in the river. Now I was not about to be a part
of the problem, so when I got down to the house,
sure enough, the old ‘frig was not worth
keeping.
I went on down to the local Home
Depot and picked out a new 18 cu ft. I asked the
clerk waiting on me what the store’s policy was
about hauling away the old unit. My new place is
a 2 story and the kitchen is upstairs, so I
already knew I needed delivery. I was told,
"SURE, no problemo". So I paid for the new
refrigerator, but on the way back to the river
house I got to wondering about their picking up
the old unit. So, the next morning, I called and
spoke to a manager who told me no -
They do not haul off the old unit if
the new one is coming from the LOCAL warehouse.
Only a place from Houston would do that. Their
policy would only allow the old unit to be
dropped off on the corner?!
So I went back to the Home Depot and
explained the pick up of the old unit was in
writing on my receipt - to no avail. So, I asked
how they could fix this. The store cancelled the
order for a local unit and I had to order my new
refrigerator from Houston. Ok, fine.
The next day, I called the Houston
place and they told me, "No can do". It was not
in writing on their work order. So I asked, "How
do I fix that?" The clerk said I had to have
Home Depot call them and revise the work order.
Ok, fine.
The next day the delivery guy finally
comes and the first thing I did was to ask if he
would haul off the old unit. He said, "Ok". Then
I noticed it was in writing on the work order.
So if you all are finding a lot of
old refrigerators abandoned in the river, I
don't wonder why.
Doug Ashley
Posted with
permission from Doug Ashley
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Can you count the
number of abandoned refrigerators in
this picture of the trash pile from the
‘ 06 San Bernard River Clean-up?
- Contributed Photo
HOW DO YOU DISPOSE OF THESE
PESKY " REFRIGERATOR VARMINTS " ?
Poor
Doug - but what a good neighbor to have.
He does bring up the question of just
what is a person supposed to do?
After
having talked to several appliance folks
and a few refrigerant people, I have
learned the following things :
To
properly dispose of any appliance
containing a refrigerant, you must first
get a licensed person to remove the
refrigerant. There are several qualified
people in our area, and a phone call
will schedule one out to your place. The
charge ranges from $25 to $60 from what
I've been told. Once the refrigerant is
removed, they will place a green tag on
the appliance stating that it is free of
refrigerant. At this point, you may
dispose of the box thru the landfill or
call a trash disposal person to come
haul it away. Some of the appliance
folks will do the whole bit for you,
removing the refrigerant and picking up
the appliance in one shot. This varies
from business to business. Although a
lot of trouble, seems like Doug had the
right idea to begin with, get them to
haul your old one off when they deliver
the new one.
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