refrigerators are one of the hardest
items to recycle
and they're filled with polluting gases
that can leak out in the process
but angel toledo is fighting to keep
that from happening
first they check whether a fridge still
contains gases
if there is gas they attach tubes and
collect it
then they fold up the metal sheets and a
machine crushes them into blocks
this rigid foam can't be melted and
reshaped like other types of plastic
ankhal says the crumbled foam could be
used to insulate roofs or made into
coolers
workers also strip wires to sell the
metals inside
angel uses this machine to figure out
whether each refrigerator's gas affects
the ozone after analysis ozone thinning
gases go into four thousand pound
storage tanks
if the fridge has a gas that doesn't
affect the ozone oncal might reuse it in
another refrigerator