Yards taking reefers in shred?

What would you do if you discovered that a yard was taking refrigerated items in the shred pile, refrigerant or no? Really concerned about this, because I love my atmosphere.
UMR

Unless something has recently changed, my main yard takes them unprocessed. I suspect they separate them later because I see a number of similar items at a separate place on the site.

I would tend to agree with Mick.

However, if you have the equipment and are certified, you may want to ask if they have someone to recover this refrigerant. If not, offer your services.

If you feel the need to contact the EPA for an investigation, here is a link to the region 6 website:

EPA Region 6 (South Central) | About EPA | US EPA

Originally Posted by Mick

I would run my business and let them run theirs.

more than likely the yard is separating items. I think its funny how with new laws in GA. An individual cant take apart the components of a window air conditioner or even a central a/c unit and sell individually to maximize their payout, unless they have a contractor / HVAC license, or a receipt for a replacement. BUT an individual can bring the whole air conditioner unit to the ferrous side and get paid 10-11 cent a pound for the whole unit and its NO PROBLEM.

Just the yard i go to says on their website they take e-scrap, but i call, and they gave me prices between .05-.10 per pound. And im thinking i can take it to ferrous side of they yard and get atleast .10 a pound. Yet next to where you drop off your ferrous they have big roll off containers where i see the yard works pick out the desktop computers they see, and throw them into the roll off container. any computer case they get from me is EMPTY i havent done all my research yet to know if i have anything worth shipping off to get paid from, but as long as i have the space to continue to store the motherboards , processsors and dvd drives I refuse to let them go for the regular shred prices.

People toss them in as is, in the shred pile here

The yard i use takes them as is but, they have to go to the shed at the end of the shred pile where they recover the refigerant. They also will drain a a/c for you to take apart, but not fridges, freezers, dehumidifires, water coolers ect.

Who gives a ****. I'd rather put my energy into making money.

The 2 yards I go to in Raleigh NC have never not taking or turned down anything with refrigerant, been selling to these 2 yards for over 10 years now.. They get all the business from the smaller yards that make you take the compressor out, drill and drain it yourself.. I think that is dumb considering the smaller yards pay less.. so more work less money ? no thanks , let the guys at the yard do what they get paid to do..

Thanks for all of the replies. I'll have to get to my desktop for the thanks.

It sounds like it is SOP for a lot of places. The thing is, if I were to break open a system, and say a neighbor called me in, that would be BIG $$$ and/or jail.

I can assure you they do not pull them off to the side, they get picked up and put into the crusher with all the other shred.

I guess for my conscience I'll get certified and save for some equipment. Too much money lost turning them in for shred. Although the last couple I got were load up and drop off, pretty easy money, pulling any wiring I can get to quickly.

This yard does not care about maximizing profits based on what I see in the shred pile. Last time I saw several pounds of brass coax connectors on the ground, and a whole spool of the aluminum armor cable. They frown upon pulling stuff out of the pile. C'est la vie!

I'll do my best and, like Mick said, run my business, and let them run theirs.
UMR

Recovering the oils and fluids from the scrap is big business. I know of one place out towards Charlotte or in Charlotte NC that buys recovered fluids from reefers and autos. I know the yard I had mentioned, keeps autos to the side as well as the ac units and other "reefers" that come in. They specify in huge letters "We buy cars with Oil and Gas in".. they resale it after collecting it.. as well as the refrigerant.......... I can't say the same for others as there is a another yard down the road not even a mile that has a shredder and you can see the refrigerant blowing out of cars and reefers. Which is also funny because they act all high and mighty, advertising their shredder as a "hybrid". Saying its the first of its kind in the states running off of steam, "saving the environment" but lets throw a few more ac units and refrigerators in there that should balance things out.. their entire facility is powered by solar power .. kind of pisses me off when I think about it.. The yard down the road refuse to sell their shred to them and drives it almost 60 miles from Raleigh to Smithfiled Omni source because these two yards hate each other soooo much lol been a feud since the 70's.. but that another story for later ...

I'm also sure the EPA is fully aware of these practices by yards. Its too obvious not to notice if they did any kind of inspection... Double standards