Just out of the WSB inbox, Seattle City Light‘s announcement that its program for recycling old refrigerators – not only free pickup, but also a rebate – is back. Details ahead:

Seattle City Light’s popular recycling program for older, secondary refrigerators – you know, the ones sitting down in the basement or out in the garage – will return Jan. 1 and customers can start scheduling pickups now.

Participants receive a $30 rebate and free haul-away when they recycle their old fridge or freezer through City Light’s program.

“Old refrigerators are energy hogs,” Interim Conservation Resources Director Glenn Atwood said. “Getting rid of one can save you about $140 a year on your energy bills and avoid up to 10 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, a contributor to climate change.”

All units collected by the program are dismantled and about 95 percent of the materials will be recycled.

Recycled materials include metals, plastics, glass, oils and chemicals, including ozone depleting chlorofluorocarbons, mercury switches and polychlorinated biphenyls. Insulating foam will be collected and sent to a waste-to-energy facility for processing and destruction. What little remains will be sent to a landfill.

Seattle City Light expects to recycle 4,000 refrigerators and freezers in 2011. That’s equal to saving enough energy to power 344 homes for a year and taking more than 400 Seattle cars off the road.

To qualify, the refrigerator or freezer must be:

* In working condition
* A secondary unit, not your primary kitchen refrigerator
* A residential style refrigerator or freezer between 10 and 27 cubic feet
* Manufactured before 2001
* Clean
* Owned by the rebate recipient

The program is limited to Seattle City Light customers, two units per address. Customers who apply for Seattle City Light’s $50 Energy Star refrigerator replacement rebate, are not eligible for the $30 recycling rebate for your primary refrigerator. The rebates may not be combined.

To schedule a pickup, call our partner JACO Environmental at (877) 577-0510 or visit them online

Here’s that direct link.