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Did you know that it is illegal in the State of California to throw away most common, household appliances and other electronic items? According to the State Department of Toxic Substances Control,
“you may not realize that many common household products are, in fact, hazardous, and if these products are handled or disposed of incorrectly, they can pose a threat to the health of humans, animals, and the environment. So, when these products are discarded, they become household hazardous waste and need to be disposed of through a household hazardous waste facility (HHWF).”
Household hazardous waste is defined as any type of waste that is generated by you, as a resident and household, while performing household activities and maintenance in and around your home. This can include waste items that you generate from cleaning, home improvement, car maintenance, or by appliance and electronic items that eventually break down and need to be removed from the home.
But if it is illegal to throw your old toaster or electric kettle with the rest of the trash, what is the best way to get rid of them in an easy, efficient, and legal way? In this short article, we offer our top three tips for how homeowners, business owners, and other residents of San Fernando Valley can get rid of their older and broken down appliances. We then explain why Junk King of San Fernando Valley, the top-rated junk removal company in the region, is your best option for safe, effective, and environmentally-friendly appliance removal. Junk King is proud to offer our top-rated appliance removal to individuals, homeowners, and business owners in the wider San Fernando Valley area, including the communities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Canoga Park, Chatsworth, Granada Hills, Los Angeles, Newbury Park, North Hollywood, Oak Park, Porter Ranch, San Fernando, Thousand Oaks, West Hills, Westlake Village, and Woodland Hills.
Some Negative Effects of Improperly Disposed Of Appliances
Amazingly, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that around 9 million refrigerators and freezers are thrown out in the United States every year. On top of that, millions of other household appliances also eventually end up taking up an enormous amount of space in landfills around the country each year. Though it might be easy to simply try and hide some of your smaller household appliances and electronics in with your regular trash, there are serious environmental side effects that need to be taken into consideration.
For example, many common household appliances contain chemicals and other materials that are extremely harmful to the surrounding environment. The refrigerants used in freezers and refrigerators rely on either CFCs (for fridges built before 1995), or HFCs (more recent models). Both CFCs and HFCs are known to be ozone-depleting substances. When these are carelessly tossed in the landfill or dump, they can act as a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Studies have shown that HFCs actually have a global warming potential (GWP) that is anywhere between 50 and 14,000 times as high as carbon dioxide! The foam insulation products used in refrigerators also contain high amounts of CFCs or HFCs that are subsequently released into the atmosphere when improperly disposed of.
Also, most household appliances, and especially those that have electronic components, include trace amounts of heavy metals such as mercury that could potentially leach into surrounding soils and even contaminate water sources. Perhaps even more worrisome, refrigerators that were manufactured before 1980 most likely contain large amounts of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls in their capacitators. Studies of the effects of PCBs in humans have found increased rates of melanomas, liver cancer, gall bladder cancer, biliary tract cancer, gastrointestinal tract cancer, and brain cancer, and may be linked to breast cancer. Furthermore, PCBs can also accumulate in aquatic ecosystems, potentially making it dangerous to eat fish and other seafood.
Other chemicals that may be contained in common household appliances include chlorine, fluorine, used oil, refrigerants, and beryllium. Any type of appliance with electronic components is classified as e-waste, and will generally have high levels of toxic components that are dangerous to human health, such as mercury, lead, cadmium, polybrominated flame retardants, barium and lithium.
Top 3 Tips for Easy Appliance Removal in San Fernando Valley
Given all of these serious health issues, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the State of California no longer allows appliances to be simply thrown away with the rest of the trash. Here are three tips for how you can get rid of your used appliances in an easy and stress-free way.
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- Donate smaller functional items: If your used appliances are still functional, you might consider donating those items to local thrift stores, charities, and other similar organizations. There are thousands of families in San Fernando Valley who would be grateful for free or discount-priced used appliances.
- Try to fix them: Most people tend to purchase a new toaster or blender the minute that their old one starts to break down. In many cases, however, your used appliances might continue to work for several years with just a bit of maintenance. Consider calling in an appliance repair professional to fix up your appliances. Not only might this save you money, but it will also ensure that your used appliances stay out of the landfill for the time being.
- Call Junk King for larger appliance removal needs: If you have large, bulky, or high quantities of used appliances or electronics that cannot be easily donated or repaired, you might consider calling a private junk removal company. When you hire Junk King of San Fernando for your appliance removal needs, we are here to help you avoid the headache of self-hauling your used appliances to the nearest collection facility. With a simple phone call or text, we can set up a time and date to come and help you get free up space in your home by getting rid of your used appliances, electronics, and other junk items.
Accurate, Fair, and Transparent Prices for Furniture Removal in San Fernando Valley
Lastly, we also believe that appliance removal shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg. Providing our residential and commercial customers with “fair and transparent” pricing is one of the hallmarks of our company and we even offer your four different ways to get a free estimate including on-site price estimates, a toll free number to talk with a trained customer service specialist, free quotes via text message, and even an online pricing estimator that allows you to get an instant quote for your zip code.
No matter what option you choose, as soon as a price is agreed upon, you choose a date and two-hour service window that works for your schedule. Our junk removal professionals will call you 15-30 minutes before we show up to promptly take away your old appliances and other junk items! Our company is also fully insured, bonded, and licensed so that you can rest assured that you will never have to deal with unforeseen liabilities.
No matter what type of old and broken down appliances you need to get rid of, we are here to lend a helping hand. Give us a call at 1-888-888-JUNK, text a photo to 1-737-888-5865, or book an appointment online to save $20 on orders totaling more than $99. Junk King continues to offer free, on-site written estimates, which is still the best way for us to give you our lowest pricing possible.
