GE gets RAD by joining federal appliance disposal program

GE has become the first appliance manufacturer to team up with the Environmental Protection Agency for its Responsible Appliance Disposal program, "RAD" for short. Retailers Sears and Best Buy are also RAD partners as are a number of utility companies across the country. GE expects to be recycling hauled-away refrigerators of any brand from six states sometime this Spring.

About nine million refrigerators are disposed of annually in the U.S., and only a fraction have the insulating foam in the walls and doors recycled, GE said in a press release. While 90 percent of used refrigerators in the U.S. are shredded for their metal, the remaining foam and other materials typically go to a landfill.

Federal law already requires the recovery of refrigerant, mercury, and PCBs from refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and humidifiers, but foam insulation containing ozone-depleting substances (ODS) such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can legally be shredded. When they are, a substantial amount of the ODS emissions are released into the atmosphere. The voluntary RAD program requires partners to recover the foam and most other components of appliances collected through the haul-away programs.
 
"Consumer concern about the environment is growing," said GE spokeswoman Julie Wood.  "GE is proud to be the first manufacturer to address the appliance-recycling challenge, which has been a multi-year effort." Once in place, the company claims, the initiative will reduce landfill waste from the refrigerators GE recycles by 85 percent.
 
GE handles appliance deliveries for Home Depot and will begin the RAD program by hauling away refrigerators that have been replaced through Home Depot purchases in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. The discarded units will be delivered to a regional recycling center in Pennsylvania operated by Appliance Recycling Centers of America, which has developed a process to separate the refrigerator's foam while capturing the greenhouse-gas blowing agents.
 
—Ed Perratore