Question

We supply among other equipment refrigeration units for purchase/rental. We have been asked to collect an old unrepairable unit from a site who are purchasing new from us. We have not previously offered this service. We are looking for information on the correct disposal of these units and a depo near Staffordshire we can take the units too?

Replies

1. This may be a starting point – https://www.businesswaste.co.uk/waste-management-staffordshire/
2. Our local council offer this service, you have to take it too them, but you dispose how you would a domestic. BUT there is a charge of around £95.00 depending on the size of the unit.
3. Most companies who sell refrigeration offer a collection and WEEE compliant disposal service too. Seeing that a new unit is being delivered does the supplier involved in selling the unit not offer this? Getting rid of refrigeration with a generic waste management company tends to be very expensive – we’ve asked ‘Grundon’ in the past for example and they have quoted around £250 for a single cabinet! However, suppliers like Foster are much cheaper if they are selling kit too – they will remove a like-for-like piece of refrigeration for around £60.
4. Not sure about Staffordshire but Pentland Wholesale in Lancashire offer a disposal service – from around £40 per cabinet from memory if delivered to them.
5. Ask the manufacturer to pick up on delivery of new unit.
6. Firstly, the refrigerant will need to be reclaimed and a waste transfer notice completed and then we call the local recycling business in our case its wards recycling and they quote a cost to dispose of them, alternatively they can keep it at their premises until they have a few and hire a skip and dispose of them that way but you must tell the skip hire place that it’s refrigeration items as this is an additional charge. What we try to do to avoid this is ask the manufacturer of the new appliance to collect the old one and dispose of it which they will do for an additional cost normally around £60/£100 and it saves the time of reclaiming the gas and collecting it etc etc.
7. Cef (city electrical factors) can offer the collection service nationwide from dealer premises, they won’t collect from site, but it will cost anything from £150 to £250 dependant on unit size.