By Greentech Lead America: Southern California Edison
(SCE), one of the founding partners of U.S. EPA’s Responsible Appliance
Disposal (RAD) Program, announced it has reached a national conservation
milestone by recycling its 1 millionth refrigerator. SCE is the first utility
to achieve the 1 million mark.
SCE’s recycling efforts have avoided emissions of more
than 177,000 pounds of substances that harm the ozone layer, and about 3.9
million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of removing 760,000 cars
from the road.
“We congratulate SoCal Edison and its customers for their
efforts to protect our atmosphere and conserve energy. The recycling of a
million appliances makes a difference to the environment by safely disposing
ozone-destroying refrigerants, mercury and toxic PCBs,” said Jared Blumenfeld,
regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency’s RAD Program has 47
partners, including utilities, manufacturers and retailers, as well as state
affiliates. Utility partners encourage the removal of inefficient refrigerators
and freezers, typically by offering appliance owners a financial incentive for
the collection of their old units, and/or by providing rebates toward the
purchase of new ENERGY STAR qualified units.
SCE has been engaged in recycling
inefficient appliances since 1994, by recycling a million appliances, these
efforts have preserved 7.9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity or $1 billion
in energy savings for SCE customers. Emissions avoided by taking those
inefficient refrigerators and freezers off the grid equal to planting 140
million trees or powering 1.1 million California homes for a year.
“The credit for this milestone goes to our customers
for their enthusiastic participation. SCE’s energy efficiency programs are
crucial to the success of California’s ambitious environmental goals,” said
Gene Rodrigues, SCE director of Energy Efficiency.
SCE’s Appliance Recycling Program offers customers $35
for their old, working refrigerators or freezers, and free pickup. Without
programs such as this one, old refrigerators and freezers may be disposed in
unsafe, environmentally unfriendly ways, or sold secondhand.
These efforts work to recover and reclaim or destroy
ozone-depleting substances from old household appliances, minimizing harmful
emissions and keeping recyclables out of landfills. It is illegal to dump a
refrigerator in a California landfill.