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Keep Earth Cool!
A responsible citizen’s guide to recycling and managing refrigerants.
Kingston has a Refrigerants Management Plan!
Funding for this plan was provided by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. This plan was done in collaboration with
Sustainable Hudson Valley and NY for Cool Refrigerant Management.
Refrigerants 101
What are refrigerants and why do they matter to my life?
Refrigerants are chemicals that play an essential role in refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps. Changing back and forth from liquid to gas as they transfer heat, they are invisible and odorless. Refrigerants are harmless to you when properly used, but can cause burns if you touch a concentrated amount. Equipment that we use all the time contains refrigerants. This includes:
- Refrigerators and freezers
- Air conditioners and central air systems
- Automotive air conditioning systems.
Refrigerants matter because they are climate superpollutants.
The essential job of a refrigerant is to transfer heat, so if the refrigerant is allowed to escape to the atmosphere, it can potentially be a very intense greenhouse gas. How intense? If it escapes to the atmosphere, a single pound of R410A will have the same greenhouse gas effect as 4,715 pounds of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Other refrigerants can be even more intense, though some are less so.
Refrigerant Management Basic Principles
#1) Prevent the emission of refrigerants to the atmosphere; refrigerants present no environmental problems as long as they are inside equipment or tanks.
#2) When possible, shift away from the uber intense greenhouse gases to refrigerants that have little or no impact as greenhouse gases.
Why are refrigerant-containing appliances the most impactful thing we can recycle?
In short, because small amounts of refrigerants make a HUGE difference.
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Recycling the refrigerants in one window air conditioner prevents the same greenhouse gas emissions that would be created by the average car driving from Kingston to Arizona… and back!
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In summary: there’s a shocking amount of greenhouse gases in a single window air conditioner, and a real opportunity to make a difference by recycling it properly.
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What can I do?
Refrigerants surround us every day. How can we ensure they aren’t escaping into the atmosphere, costing us money while increasing global warming?
1) Take your end-of-life appliances to a responsible recycler.
Appliances left on the curb may be picked up by scrap metal collectors who vent the refrigerants when stripping out the metals. When possible, take your refrigerant-containing appliances to a responsible recycler. (What’s a responsible recycler? Someone who can tell you their plan for having the refrigerants recovered from the appliances they accept before the metals are recycled.) This single act is incredibly beneficial to society. If need be, ask friends or neighbors for help taking this action, or go out of your way to help others.
City of Kingston residents can bring appliances to the annual Earth Day Festival at TR Gallo Waterfront Park, where appliance recycling is free. Throughout the year, the City of Kingston Transfer Station at 380 Boulevard in Kingston (by the Ulster County Jail) accepts refrigerant-containing appliances from residents at a cost of $25/unit. The hours of operation are Fridays 9:00am-1:00pm and Saturdays 8:00am-2:00pm. Curbside pickup is also available at $35/unit by calling Kingston DPW at 845-338-2114 and scheduling pickup in advance. (For refrigerators, remove the door and place it side by side with the rest of the unit.) The Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency also accepts appliances at 999 Flatbush Road, Kingston, NY.
Contact [email protected] if you have any questions about this process.
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Window AC Units
(Photo credit: Jason Eppink, public domain)
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Refrigerators
(Photo credit: Shirley Keller, public domain)
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Dehumidifiers
(Photo credit: wikipedia, public domain)
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2) Conduct regular maintenance on heat pumps and central air conditioning systems, and do not top off systems with refrigerants when leak repairs are needed.
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Heat Pumps and Central Air Conditioning
(Photo credit: www.pikist.com, public domain)
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Installed systems like residential heat pumps and central air conditioning systems can hold from a few pounds to dozens of pounds of refrigerants, such as R410A and R22, both of which are climate super pollutants. Because the refrigerant circuits operate under high pressures, leaks in these systems are common. (The California Air Review Board estimates the average residential heat pump or air conditioning system will leak 67% of its refrigerant charge over its lifetime.)
Regular maintenance on heat pumps and central air conditioning systems can reduce energy use, increase equipment life, and prevent leaks, which is a service to all your neighbors and friends. Be sure you have a reliable service provider available to keep maintenance up to date.
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Automobile Air Conditioning
(Photo credit: Mike Peel, (www.mikepeel.net))
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3) Keep your car AC in good running condition and avoid DIY AC repair.
The air conditioning systems in cars have to deal with road vibrations and wide swings in temperatures, which makes small leaks hard to avoid. But a chronically leaking system should be fixed by a professional who can find and stop the leak, then recharge the system with the exact required quantities of refrigerant and oil, which is good for the longevity of your vehicle’s air conditioning. If you try to make this repair yourself, the quality of repair will be lower and more refrigerants will most likely be emitted. DIY MVAC repairs are bad for the longevity of your AC system as well as the environment.
4) Turn in old refrigerant cylinders.
Do you have an old refrigerant cylinder lurking in your garage, basement or shed? Do you have little cans of R12, the refrigerant used in cars before the 1990s, sitting around? Do your friends or neighbors have these things lying around? Look around! Many people do!
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Refrigerant Cylinders
(Photo credit: Michael Helme) (Photo credit: wikipedia, public domain)
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In the past, HVAC technicians might have done the right thing by recovering refrigerants, but because of not having enough tanks on hand, they mixed refrigerants and then could be liable to pay a penalty of $200 or more to their distributor. So they put refrigerant canisters like that in hiding places and went about their business. Fast forward to 2025, and there are refrigerant reclamation companies that will take cylinders of mixed refrigerants at no charge. Or, if the refrigerants are pure, those same companies will pay good money. A 25-pound cylinder of mixed R22 and R410A could hold something like 130,000 pounds of CO2 equivalent, so anyone who turns up a cylinder like that and submits it for proper handling will be a true climate hero!
For assistance dealing with refrigerant cylinders and cans, contact New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management ([email protected]). They will help you get top dollar if it’s worth something, or otherwise help with getting the refrigerants properly handled at no charge.
5) If you are looking for a new career, consider becoming an HVAC/R technician.
There is a long-term demand for skilled people to work with refrigerants, including heat pump, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians. Learn more about career opportunities on this webpage from NYSERDA. SUNY Ulster offers courses and can help you become an HVAC/R certified technician. If this job isn’t for you, please keep it in mind for friends and neighbors who seek a new career.
If these chemicals are such a problem, aren’t they regulated?
Yes, but it isn’t so simple. Policies have to be made to balance various environmental impacts, while working with industry to phase in better systems in a financially realistic way.
The earliest synthetic refrigerants were cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which in the 1980s were discovered to be wiping out the ozone and led to the Montreal Protocol. CFCs were replaced at first by the hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), which were less destructive to the ozone, but were later also phased out in favor of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which have no ozone depletion potential. Since these steps were taken, the stratospheric ozone has started recovering and is forecasted to be completely recovered by 2066 (UN.org).
While HFCs are not bad for the ozone, they are very intense greenhouse gases. In fact, the CFCs and HCFCs were also very intense greenhouse gases. This means we want to minimize the use of these refrigerants, avoid leaks, and be sure they are properly recovered when they reach the end of their working lives.
More recently, the refrigerant manufacturers have invented hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), which have no ozone depletion potential and much lower global warming potentials. However, they are expensive (because they are patented) and they can break down into forever chemicals. There is also a range of naturally occurring refrigerants (known as “natural refrigerants”) that includes:
- R744 (carbon dioxide)
- R290 (refrigerant-grade propane)
- R600a (isobutane)
- R717 (refrigerant-grade ammonia)
These all have ultra-low global warming potentials. They work excellently as refrigerants, and have special handling requirements that make them safe to use. These are being phased into many appliances, with more aggressive policies in some states than in others.
Note on terms: Freon is a trademark that belongs to Chemours (formerly a part of DuPont) and was specifically used for a variety of their refrigerants. But over the years, some people have used “Freon” loosely to refer to all refrigerants.
Further information
This public awareness project is a collaboration among the City of Kingston, Sustainable Hudson Valley, and New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management.
Check out Kingston's 2025 Refrigerant Management Plan here!
Learn more by visiting:
Resources:
To learn about Kingston’s refrigerant management program, contact: [email protected]
or New Yorkers for Cool Refrigerant Management: [email protected]