Chester to celebrate Earth Week with ‘Coolest Recycling Drive’
Chester. Residents will be able to recycle refrigerant-containing appliances free of charge.
| 20 Mar 2025 | 12:45
Photo of Members of the Chester Conservation Advisory Council and Chester Town Supervisor Brandon Holderidge at 2024 recycling drive. Provided photo.
In celebration of Earth Week, the Town of Chester and the Chester Conservation Advisory Council will participate in the “Coolest Recycling Drive of 2025.”
On Saturday, April 12, residents of Chester and neighboring communities are invited to bring window air conditioners, dehumidifiers, water coolers, mini-fridges or other appliances with refrigerants that can fit in the trunk of a car from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to Chester Town Hall, 1786 Kings Highway, Chester.
This event is free; there is no cost to participate.
This is the town’s second year as a participant/drop-off location for this event, which is organized annually by Sustainable Warwick, a community-based organization dedicated to increasing public understanding of sustainability.
One of the most important things homeowners can ever recycle is refrigerant-containing appliances. This is because the chemicals used as refrigerants are hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than CO2 as greenhouse gases. Refrigerants are a huge contributor to climate change and capturing refrigerants from end-of-life appliances is part of the solution to preventing emissions of refrigerants.
After all the appliances are gathered, an EPA-certified technician will use a refrigerant pump to transfer the refrigerants from the appliances to special recovery tanks. They will then take the recovery tanks to and EPA-certified reclamation facilities, where they will clean the refrigerant and restore it to a reusable standard.
After the appliances have had the refrigerant removed, they will be sent for scrap metal recycling as light iron.
Orange County residents can continue to take their appliances to a county transfer station and pay a $15 recycling fee. It’s estimated that less than 10% of all appliances are properly recycled. This is an opportunity to have appliances properly disposed of at no charge.
For more information, visit Sustainable Warwick’s website https://www.sustainablewarwick.org/coolest-recycling or email CleanEnergy@sustainablewarwick.org.