How to get rid of a refrigerator in Riverside when the City won't take it

The short answer

If you live in the City of Riverside, the free bulky pickup is off the table: refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners are on its excluded list because of the refrigerant inside. Your options are a retailer haul-away when you buy a new one, a self-haul to a county landfill (which adds a $7 appliance surcharge), a scrap or appliance recycler, or a flat pickup. With JunkRabbit a standard refrigerator is $164 and a side-by-side or French-door model is $183.

Why refrigerators get special treatment

A fridge's cooling system holds refrigerant that has to be recovered by someone equipped to do it before the metal can be scrapped or the unit landfilled. That is why the City of Riverside excludes "refrigerant appliances" from curbside bulky collection, and why Riverside County's landfills charge a per-item surcharge on appliances that need special handling.

Do not cut the lines or drain anything yourself to make it lighter. Releasing refrigerant is not a shortcut; it is the problem the rules exist to prevent.

The Inland Empire garage fridge

In much of the IE, the fridge you are getting rid of is not in the kitchen. Slab-built homes with two- and three-car garages tend to collect a second refrigerator or a chest freezer for drinks, bulk groceries and overflow from family gatherings. When the kitchen gets a new French-door model, the old one often moves to the garage instead of leaving, and the previous garage fridge finally gives out. In tract neighborhoods like Moreno Valley, Fontana, Menifee and Eastvale, it is common to find two old units side by side against the garage wall. Garage fridges work hard in inland summers, when a closed garage can get very hot, and they tend to fail during the hottest weeks. The good news is that a garage is easier to clear than a kitchen: a flat floor, a wide door and the truck parked in the driveway.

If you live outside the City of Riverside

Rules vary across the Inland Empire.

• Ontario: the City's bulky-item program for single-family homes, four appointments a year with five large items each, accepts appliances. If you are in Ontario and have an appointment left, use it.
• Moreno Valley: up to four bulky or e-waste pickups a month through Waste Management, but items one person cannot safely lift are excluded. A full-size fridge is not a one-person lift.
• Corona: three special collections a year; oversized and heavy items are excluded.
• Fontana, Rialto, San Bernardino: Burrtec-served, with program details that vary. Check your city's page.

Apartment residents in Ontario and Rialto are pointed to their property manager rather than to curb collection.

Self-hauling to the landfill

Riverside County's fee schedule, effective July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, adds a $7 per item surcharge for appliances that need special handling, which includes refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, stoves, water heaters, air conditioners and microwaves, up to four a day. Add the load fee (a flat $15.70 for a car, SUV or pickup up to eight feet) and tarp it to avoid the $25 uncovered-load surcharge.

The gate cost is low. The work is not. A standard fridge weighs a couple of hundred pounds, needs an appliance dolly and straps, must stay upright in the truck bed, and has to come through your kitchen doorway with the doors taped shut. In a Wood Streets bungalow with a narrow back door or a second-floor Canyon Crest condo, that is a two-person job with a real chance of damaging floors.

Comparing the routes on one fridge

Take a standard fridge in a Moreno Valley garage, in the same city as Badlands on Ironwood Avenue.

• Self-haul: $15.70 + $7 = $22.70 at the gate, plus a borrowed truck, a dolly, straps, a tarp and a helper, and a trip before the 4:30 closing time on a weekday or Saturday.
• Retailer haul-away: only if you are buying a replacement, only on delivery day, and only at whatever the store charges.
• Flat pickup: $164, carried out of the garage, hauled and disposed of, same day if you book by 4 PM.

Now take the same fridge in a second-floor apartment near UCR. The self-haul still costs $22.70 at the gate, but the stairs and the risk to the unit's floors and walls change the math. The pickup price stays $164, with no stairs fee.

Retailer haul-away and recyclers

If you are buying a new fridge, ask the store whether it hauls the old one away at delivery, and what it charges. It is the easiest route when it is offered, though it only works on delivery day and the old unit usually needs to be emptied, defrosted and disconnected beforehand.

Scrap metal and appliance recyclers in the IE may accept fridges, but most want the refrigerant recovered or documented first. Call before you load anything.

Flat prices for refrigerators and freezers

Common combinations in Inland Empire homes, where the second fridge or chest freezer lives in the garage: a kitchen fridge plus a garage chest freezer, $164 + $146 = $310. A French-door fridge and a dorm mini fridge from a UCR apartment, $183 + $115 = $298. Two old garage fridges in a Fontana tract home, $164 + $164 = $328.

The price includes carry-out from the kitchen or garage, any floor, no stairs fee, and disposal.

How to get it ready

1. Empty it completely, including the freezer and door bins.
2. Unplug it a day ahead so it can defrost, and put towels down. A garage freezer in August can leave a large puddle.
3. Shut off and disconnect the water line if it has an ice maker. If you are not comfortable doing it, leave it for a plumber.
4. Clear a path from the kitchen to the door and note any tight turns.
5. Take a photo and upload it on the instant quote page for a fixed price. Same day when you book by 4 PM.

Frequently asked questions