Federal law says the refrigerant has to be recovered before a fridge is scrapped, so it has to reach a facility that does that. The county site in Lincoln charges $46.50 if you haul it yourself. Roseville Electric's rebate is gone. Our pickup starts at $150.
The new refrigerator showed up in March. The old one went out to the garage because you were going to deal with it that weekend. It is September, it is still there, and it is parked where a car should be. That is the most common version of this call.
I'm Chris. My sons and I run Kale's Junk & Trash Hauling out of Roseville, and a refrigerator is not like a couch. There are rules attached to it, and those rules are why the scrap guy who takes your old barbecue does not want your fridge. Here is what each option costs, including the part where I tell you to skip us entirely.
Why You Cannot Just Dump a Fridge
Under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act, written into the rules at 40 CFR Part 82, Subpart F, the refrigerant inside a household refrigerator, freezer or window air conditioner has to be recovered before the unit is scrapped or landfilled. Letting it vent on purpose is prohibited. The requirement is laid out on the EPA's safe disposal requirements page (checked September 2026).
The detail that changes your day is who carries the responsibility. It is the last person in the disposal chain, the recycler or the landfill, who has to make sure the refrigerant came out. Not you. Them. That is why nobody in that chain wants a charged unit handed to them off the street, and why the county charges more than four times as much for a fridge as for a washer.
So do not open the lines yourself. Your job ends at getting the unit to somebody who does the recovery properly, and every option below is a way of doing that.
The curb is not one of those ways. Roseville does not collect bulky items, per the city's trash and recycling page (checked September 2026).
Option 1: Take It to the County Facility in Lincoln
The Western Placer Waste Management Authority site at 3195 Athens Avenue in Lincoln takes appliances from the public. A refrigerated appliance is $46.50 each and a non-refrigerated appliance is $11 each, rates effective July 1, 2025. The gate is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The address, the fees and the hours come off the WPWMA facilities page (checked September 2026).
That $46.50 is the cheapest way to get rid of the fridge. What it does not cover is the work: a full size refrigerator out of the garage, into a truck bed, strapped for the drive north, and back down at the other end.
The three appliances we get called about most do not carry the same gate fee.
Note the window AC. It falls in the county's refrigerated tier, so expect the same $46.50 as a refrigerator even though it fits in a trunk, which makes it the one item here where hiring anybody is hard to justify. Drive it to Lincoln.
Option 2: Utility Rebates, What Is Left
For years the smart move was to let the power company haul the old fridge and pay you for the privilege. In Roseville that door is closed. The utility's own page says it straight: "Refrigerator and Freezer Rebates are no longer available from Roseville Electric Utility." The contractor that ran those pickups, JACO Environmental, ceased operations, and the program went with it. It is on the Roseville Electric rebate page (checked September 2026).
One exception. If you signed up while the program was still running and the payment never showed up, Roseville Electric asks you to call them at (916) 797-6937.
Not everybody we serve is on Roseville Electric. In Rocklin, Lincoln and Granite Bay the power usually comes from somewhere else. If PG&E is your electric utility, check pge.com for a current appliance recycling offer before you pay anyone. It is worth doing before you book any truck, mine included.
Option 3: Roseville Spring Clean-Up Events
The city runs free Neighborhood Clean-Up events on Saturdays each spring for Roseville residents, and appliances are among the things they take. There is an unacceptable items list, so read the city's Neighborhood Clean-Up page (checked September 2026) before you load anything.
Two catches. You still have to get the fridge into a vehicle and over to the event site, which is the same lifting as a run to Lincoln. And it is a spring program, so if the thing is in your garage right now, in September, there is no event to wait for. The dates, the sites and the phone number are in Roseville bulky item options for when spring comes back around.
Option 4: Have It Picked Up
This is the paid option, so here is what the money buys. We disconnect the unit, dolly it out with straps, and deliver it to a facility that recovers the refrigerant. You do not lift a corner of it, you do not rent anything, and nothing scrapes your door frame on the way out.
A single appliance is $150, our minimum load. If the fridge is leaving with the rest of a garage or a move-out, price the whole thing by volume instead: a half trailer runs $550 to $590 and a full trailer is $995, and the fridge rides inside that number rather than on top of it. The rest of what we pull out of a kitchen or laundry room is on the appliance removal page, and there is a page for appliance removal in Rocklin too.
Now the honest part. If you own a truck, you have a second set of hands, and the fridge is on the ground floor with a clear path out, load it and drive to Lincoln. Call us when it is upstairs, when it is a wide side by side that will not clear the doorway, when there is nobody around to take the other end, or when the fridge is one line on a much longer list.
Before We Arrive
Four small things on your end keep this quick.
- Empty it: food left inside is the number one reason a fridge job turns unpleasant, and that includes whatever is standing in the freezer door.
- Unplug it the night before: defrosting is not required for us, but an unplugged unit has time to finish dripping so it is not leaving a trail across your floor.
- Clear the path: walk the route from the appliance to the driveway and move what is in the way. Shoes, the pet gate, the trash cans beside the side gate.
- Tape the doors shut: a chest freezer lid that swings open halfway down the steps is how somebody gets hurt. One strip of tape solves it.
If you want it gone this week, call or text (916) 295-2622. The boys and I will come look at it, the on-site estimate is free, and you get the exact price before anything goes on the trailer. And if you tell me you have a truck and a free Saturday, I will point you toward Lincoln instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The city does not collect bulky items, and a fridge at the curb is a hazard for kids and a citation for you. Take it to the county facility in Lincoln, wait for a spring clean-up event, or have it picked up.
Not as of September 2026. Roseville Electric says its refrigerator and freezer rebates are no longer available after its recycling contractor shut down. If you were mid-program and never got paid, the utility asks you to call (916) 797-6937.
The Western Placer facility in Lincoln charges $46.50 per refrigerated appliance and $11 for a non-refrigerated one such as a washer or stove, rates effective July 1, 2025. You bring it, you unload it.
Empty it, yes. Food left inside is the number one reason a fridge job turns unpleasant. Defrosting is not required for us, but unplug it the night before so it is not dripping on your floor while we carry it out.