8 Ways to Make Your Fridge Greener

Plenty of shoppers consider the environment when shopping for groceries, opting for products grown without pesticides or patronizing farmers markets, but a lot of people don’t consider their environmental impact after they get those groceries home and into the refrigerator.

Fridges offer great opportunities for people to reduce their usage of energy, water, and toxic chemicals.

Here are a few easy ways to make the fridge a little more eco-friendly.

Clean the coils

Grab a skinny brush and gently scrub the coils under or behind your fridge. The coils help cool the fridge by releasing heat, which is difficult when they’re covered in a layer of dirt and dust. Clean coils help the fridge work more efficiently, reducing energy for an appliance that uses immense amounts.

Stock plenty of food

Kirsten Ritchie, director of sustainable design at Gensler Corporation in San Francisco, tells the Vegetarian Times that full fridges use less energy than empty ones, but users should be careful to strike a balance. More food means there is less space for the fridge to cool, but you don’t want it so full that air has trouble circulating.

Swap plastic for glass

Ritchie also suggests fridge owners opt for glass containers over plastic, since glass keeps food colder, helping the fridge work more efficiently.

Use ice trays and water pitchers

Ice and water dispensers boost energy usage by 14-20%, so switching to filtered water pitchers and trays of ice can have a huge impact on daily energy costs.

Clean often

A dirty fridge is a perfect environment for bacteria to thrive. Even a small spill can invite bacteria, which in turn will cause other foods to go bad more quickly. Clean the fridge with eco-friendly products or DIY green cleaners to give your food a fighting chance.

Organize properly

Certain areas of the fridge are naturally colder than others. Avoid spoilage and food waste by storing the most vulnerable foods in the coldest areas (often the back and bottom) and the most temperature sensitive ones in warmer spots (the door). If you’re unsure where your fridge runs cold, pick up a fridge thermometer and test different spots.

Buy a new fridge

At a certain point, the greenest option is to ditch the fridge entirely for a newer model. Refrigerators generally last 10 to 17 years, and when they’ve naturally run through that lifetime, they may become an emissions liability. Despite the environmental cost of producing a new fridge, replacing a clunky, old, inefficient model with a shiny, new, eco-friendly option is still a net positive for the environment.

For more ideas on how you can save the planet, visit 1Thing.