Unwanted fridges and freezers are being taken to a storage facility in North Yorkshire, but environment chiefs insist there is no health risk.
The company responsible for storing the appliances says it is on course to reach an estimated figure of 26,000 fridges on the site by the end of the year.
Yorwaste, which manages household and business waste in the county, is transporting up to 100 old fridges a day to the site at Hessay, near York.
About 9,000 have already been taken to the 36,000 sq ft facility, but residents have been assured they do not pose a safety risk.
Yorwaste is storing the fridges and freezers on behalf of North Yorkshire County Council because new legislation has made it necessary to remove environmentally-damaging chloro-fluorocarbons before they can be disposed of or recycled.
John Miller, Yorwaste's recycling manager, said: "We are looking at the best value way to safely dispose of these fridges, but until then people can be assured that they pose no risk to health or the environment.
"The Hessay facility has already been visited by the Environment Agency and we were told it is the best one they have seen."
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