Efficiency Vermont targets fridges

Efficiency Vermont is launching a new program that will help people save money and the environment by paying them $30 for old refrigerators.

The program is designed to reduce electric use by getting rid of old, inefficient refrigerators that can cost customers $150 a year to use.

The first pickup came Wednesday when a crew working with Efficiency Vermont got a 47-year-old refrigerator from Swanton resident Ellsworth Moore.

Moore says he hasn't been using the refrigerator, but is glad to get rid of it and get the money.

Efficiency Vermont is working with a company called JACO Environmental of Franklin, Mass., which will pick up refrigerators and freezers from residents' homes at no charge and recycle them.