Moving out? What to do with your fridge, AC, TV, and washer
When you move, almost everything you own can go out as regular or oversized garbage. Four things cannot. Air conditioners, televisions, refrigerators and freezers, and washing machines and dryers fall under Japan's Home Appliance Recycling Law, and the law says they have to be recycled through a specific channel. You pay a recycling fee, and the unit gets taken apart for parts rather than crushed.
Leaving one of these at the curb counts as illegal dumping in Japan, and it can carry a fine. So here are the three legal ways to hand them off, easiest first.
Option 1: let the store that sells you the new one take the old one
If you are replacing the appliance, the retailer delivering the new one will haul the old one away. You pay the recycling fee plus a collection fee, and they handle the paperwork. This is the path of least resistance, and most people moving into a new place end up here.
Option 2: call the shop you bought it from
The store where you originally bought an appliance is required to take it back, even if you are not buying a replacement. Call them, tell them the model, and arrange a pickup. You still pay the recycling fee and usually a collection fee for them to come get it.
Option 3: do it yourself
No retailer in the picture? You can carry the appliance to a designated drop-off point yourself.
- Buy a home appliance recycling ticket (家電リサイクル券) at a post office and pay the recycling fee for that item and maker.
- Attach the ticket to the appliance.
- Drive it to a designated collection site (指定引取場所) for your area.
Recycling fees depend on the item and the manufacturer, but expect somewhere in the range of about 1,000 yen for an air conditioner up to roughly 5,000 yen for a large fridge. A collection or transport fee is on top of that when someone comes to you.
Computers and small electronics like phones and kettles are not part of this law. They have their own routes, often a maker take-back program or a small appliance collection box at city hall.
The part that catches people is matching the right fee and route to the exact appliance while a moving van is waiting outside.
Sort your whole move in the app Gomi Guide flags the four recycling-law appliances, explains the fees, and sorts everything else you are throwing out. Free on the App Store.