Yes, AO can collect and recycle your old fridge, freezer or fridge freezer, even if you haven’t bought a new appliance from us.
AO offers two options for people who need to dispose of an unwanted appliance.
Our Collect & Recycle service can be booked on its own, without purchasing a new appliance from AO. Alternatively, customers buying a new appliance from us can use Remove & Recycle to have their old one taken away when the new product is delivered.
Both services are available for fridges, freezers and fridge freezers, with collected appliances taken away for specialist recycling.
Can AO collect my fridge if I haven’t bought a new one?
Yes. You don’t need to buy a new appliance from AO to use our Collect & Recycle service.
Starting from £30 per item, you can add the service to your basket, choose an available collection date and arrange for us to collect the unwanted appliance from your home.
Collections are available seven days a week, with next-day collection available in some areas depending on where you live.
You can arrange for the appliance to be collected from inside your home or leave it outside in a safe and accessible place. This means you don’t necessarily need to wait at home for the collection.
Find out more about AO’s Collect & Recycle service.
Can AO take away my old fridge when delivering a new one?
Yes. If you’re buying a new appliance from AO, our Remove & Recycle service allows you to have your old appliance taken away when the new one is delivered.
The service can be added when ordering your new appliance. If you have already placed your order, you can contact AO by 2pm on the day before your delivery to ask for it to be added.
AO Members get Remove & Recycle included as part of their membership when purchasing a new large appliance. This means AO will unpack the new appliance, take away the packaging and remove the old appliance for recycling at no additional charge.
AO Membership costs £39.99 a year and also includes benefits such as free and unlimited delivery and member-only savings.
Find out more about AO’s Remove & Recycle service.
What is the difference between Collect & Recycle and Remove & Recycle?
The main difference is whether you are also buying a new appliance from AO.
- Collect & Recycle is a standalone service. You can use it even if you haven’t purchased a replacement appliance from AO.
- Remove & Recycle is available when you are buying a new appliance from AO. We collect the old product when we deliver the new one.
Both services provide a convenient way to have an unwanted fridge, freezer or fridge freezer collected and taken away for responsible recycling.
What do I need to do before AO collects my old fridge?
Before we arrive, your fridge, freezer or fridge freezer must be:
- Completely empty
- Fully defrosted
- Free from water
- Relatively clean
- Disconnected from the mains and any other relevant supplies
An eligible disconnection service may be available for an additional charge, although AO cannot disconnect hard-wired, integrated or gas appliances through the standalone Collect & Recycle service.
If you are leaving the appliance outside, it should be placed somewhere safe and easy for the collection team to access.
AO cannot collect the appliance if it hasn’t been properly defrosted or still contains water.
What happens to my fridge after AO collects it?
Fridges and fridge freezers collected by AO are taken to our specialist recycling facility in Telford.
Fridges require specialist treatment because they can contain refrigerant gases, oils and other substances that need to be removed safely. The recycling process allows those pollutants to be captured while recoverable materials are separated for recycling.
The Telford facility is home to Bertha, AO’s large-scale fridge-recycling machine, which can process hundreds of thousands of appliances each year.
Why do more fridges need recycling during hot weather?
Hot weather can place additional strain on older fridges and freezers, leading to an increase in the number of appliances reaching the end of their usable lives.
Speaking to BBC Radio Shropshire following an exceptionally demanding summer, Dave Ware, Director of Commercial (Recycling) at AO, explained: “Summer peak is about cooling and cooling that’s fridges, freezers and anything that sort of cools things down for you.
“The peak usually is seven to ten days. We’re talking five to six weeks, a small respite and then more volume.
“High temperatures kill fridges in the household. So the volume of appliances, fridges that have been recycled across the country was significantly higher than we’ve ever seen for a much longer period of time.”
The extended peak contributed to June and August becoming AO’s highest-ever months for recycling volumes. July was the fifth highest, with volumes across the period around 20% higher than the previous year.
Why has fridge-recycling capacity come under pressure?
The unusually high number of fridges requiring recycling coincided with reduced processing capacity elsewhere in the UK.
One established fridge recycler had entered administration, while operational issues affected some other recycling plants. This meant that the number of fridges requiring specialist treatment increased at the same time as the capacity available to process them reduced.
Some councils subsequently experienced disruption to their fridge and freezer collection or recycling services but AO continued collecting appliances.
Dave said: “Certainly from our perspective it didn’t impact us in terms of our own customer collections. All we needed to do for a very short period of time was just limit some of those third party and council fridges.”
This meant customers using AO’s own appliance collection services remained unaffected.
How is AO preparing for future hot summers?
AO has taken several lessons from the prolonged summer recycling peak.
These include investing in additional cooling equipment for the Telford recycling plant, helping its machinery continue operating during periods of exceptionally high temperatures.
AO has also invested in more storage space, creating an additional buffer if unusually large numbers of appliances arrive over a short period.
However, the scale and timing of future seasonal peaks remain difficult to forecast.
Dave said: “We’ve learned lots of stuff, but yeah, it’s trying to predict the unpredictable, which is the British summer.”
Which AO fridge collection service should I choose?
Choose Collect & Recycle if:
- You need an old fridge, freezer or fridge freezer collected
- You are not buying a new appliance from AO
- You want to choose a separate collection date
- You would like the option to leave the appliance outside for collection
The service starts from £30 per item.
Book or find out more about Collect & Recycle.
Choose Remove & Recycle if:
- You are buying a new appliance from AO
- You want your old appliance collected when the new one is delivered
- You want to combine delivery, removal and potentially installation or disconnection services
Find out more about Remove & Recycle.
Whichever option you choose, your old fridge or freezer will be taken away for specialist recycling, saving you the trouble of arranging a separate council collection or taking it to a household recycling centre.