Cool Recycling Gets Cooler in More Places
Sustainable Hudson Valley and Ulster County joined Sustainable Warwick in recycling appliances containing refrigerants, resulting in recycling of more than 500 appliances.
By Michael Helme
During April, Sustainable Warwick collected 149 refrigerant-containing appliances in its second Coolest Recycling Drive. During May, Sustainable Hudson Valley and others launched a Coolest Recycling Drive in Ulster County, which included 8 drop-off events across three weeks. In the end they collected 353 appliances, for a total of more than 500 appliances across both drives.
Because the refrigerants in those appliances are such potent greenhouse gases, New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management (which worked with the sponsors of both drives) estimates more than 1.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent will be recovered from the appliances, or the same as the greenhouse gas emissions of 162 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.
After collecting 130 appliances in last year’s Coolest Recycling Drive, two factors helped more than triple the appliance count this year. First, Hudson Technologies, the largest refrigerant reclaimer in the United States, volunteered to support future drives by doing the refrigerant recovery work at no charge. Second, publicity for the drive in Ulster County from Sustainable Hudson Valley, New Yorkers for Clean Power, the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency, Climate Smart Kingston, numerous town-based transfer stations and others helped many more citizens learn about the opportunity to properly recycle their old appliances at no charge.
On May 21, 2024, a press conference was held in New Paltz with representatives from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the Environmental Investigation Agency, New Yorkers for Clean Power, Sustainable Hudson Valley, Sustainable Warwick, New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management, representatives of the Town of New Paltz and City of Kingston, and other volunteers and community members. A recording of the press conference is available here.
Maureen Leddy, Director of the Office of Climate Change, NYS DEC, said “New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management are dedicated to preventing potent and harmful greenhouse gases from being released into the environment. 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.”
“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,” said Christina Starr, Senior Manager of the Climate Campaign at Environmental Investigation Agency US.
“Our neighbors were so thankful/grateful/happy to do the right thing. Many donors today have kept these ACs or dehumidifiers for years because they could not get rid of them properly. They were so pleased to have the opportunity to do the right thing. Sure, some just wanted these things out of their homes, but most understood and really appreciated why this type of collection matters. It was quite inspiring and touching,” said Susannah Devine, after volunteering for the drop-off event in Chester.
“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). Knowing these things is what convinced me to start organizing Coolest Recycling Drives. 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 and member of the Sustainable Warwick Steering Committee.
Sustainable Warwick is particularly grateful to local partners who helped organize and publicize local drop-off events, including the Town of Warwick, Villages of Florida, Greenwood Lake and Warwick, the Town of Chester and the Chester Conservation Advisory Council, the Warwick Valley Chamber of Commerce, the office of Assemblymember Karl Brabenec, the Greenwood Lake Lions Club and the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Community focused news can only succeed with community support. Please consider the various subscription levels.