How to get rid of a refrigerator in St. Louis

The short answer

A refrigerator cannot go to a Missouri landfill — state law, RSMo 260.250, has banned major appliances from solid waste disposal areas since 1991. In the City of St. Louis, appliances are collected monthly through the BOAT-E program, and refrigerator doors must be removed before set-out. You can also check whether your new-appliance retailer hauls the old one, or book a flat pickup: $164 for a standard fridge, $183 for side-by-side or French door, $238 for built-in.

Why a fridge is different from other junk

Two rules make refrigerators their own category.

• The landfill ban. RSMo 260.250 says major appliances "shall not be disposed of in a solid waste disposal area." A fridge has to go to a recycler, not a dump.
• Refrigerant. Federal EPA rules require the refrigerant to be recovered before the unit is scrapped. That is a job for someone with the equipment, not a hacksaw in the alley.

Once the refrigerant is recovered, scrap-metal recyclers take the steel. That is the route a fridge is supposed to follow.

Option 1: City BOAT-E collection

The City of St. Louis runs BOAT-E: batteries, oil, appliances, tires and electronics, collected monthly. It is included in the $14 per month per unit solid-waste fee City residents pay. Two rules to follow:

• Remove the doors. The City requires refrigerator doors to be taken off. It is a sensible rule anyway: a fridge with a working door sitting in an alley is a danger to any child who climbs in.
• Follow your collection week. Check the City's bulk item and BOAT-E page for when and how to set it out.

A refrigerator is well over 100 lbs, so it does not belong with the standard bulky pile. Check the City's BOAT-E guidance before you drag it out to the alley.

Option 2: the retailer haul-away

If you are buying a new fridge, ask the store whether they take the old one when they deliver, and what they charge. It is often the easiest route if the timing lines up. Two things to confirm: that the old unit is disconnected, emptied and defrosted before they arrive, and that they will take it from where it actually is. Many delivery crews will not go down to a basement or up to a third-floor flat for the old unit.

Option 3: County and Illinois

Outside the City, your municipality or trash district sets the appliance rule. Some County cities include appliances with bulky collection, some require a scheduled pickup, some charge. Florissant, Kirkwood, Webster Groves and Chesterfield all answer this differently, and so do the contracted districts in unincorporated South County. The same goes for Belleville, O'Fallon and Edwardsville in Illinois. Check your own hauler.

Option 4: flat pickup

The basement second fridge and the chest freezer next to it are $164 + $146 = $310. A kitchen remodel's French-door fridge plus a mini fridge from a dorm move-out is $183 + $115 = $298. Carry-out from any floor, no stairs fee.

The St. Louis basement fridge problem

A lot of St. Louis homes have a second refrigerator in the basement. It went down the stairs decades ago, sometimes before a remodel narrowed the stairwell or the door. Getting it back up is the hard part.

• Unplug it a day ahead. Let it defrost into towels, and empty it.
• Tape the doors shut for the carry, or take them off. Doors swinging open on a stair are dangerous.
• Measure the stair turn. Brick flats and older South City homes often have a tight landing.
• Use a proper appliance dolly with straps, never a hand truck without them.

If that sounds like a bad Saturday, a crew carries it out from the basement of a Bevo Mill flat or a Florissant ranch the same way, with no stairs fee.

Fridges left behind in rentals and estates

A lot of St. Louis refrigerator removals are not about a new purchase. They are the old fridge a tenant left in a South City flat, the extra fridge in a Florissant basement during an estate cleanout, or the unit that stopped working while a rehab in Old North stretched on. In those cases there is no retailer to haul it.

Two practical notes for landlords and families. First, if a fridge has been unplugged with food inside, tape the doors shut and do not open them indoors; it will smell. Second, check the water line on newer models before anyone tips it, or the kitchen floor gets wet. Price-wise, a left-behind fridge plus the old range next to it is $164 + $134 = $298 for an electric range, or $164 + $137 = $301 for gas.

What happens to it after pickup

A collected refrigerator goes the way Missouri law requires: away from the landfill and to appliance recycling, where refrigerant is recovered and the metal is scrapped. We recycle whatever we can. If the fridge works and is clean, we try to donate usable items when local charities accept them, but appliances are often hard to place. Get a price from a photo at the instant quote page.

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