DALMATIA — As she watched her old refrigerator being taken away to be recycled, Mary Anne Smeltz had mixed feelings.

Her ancient General Electric was more than 35 years old, and it was chosen to be the first one to go in PPL Electric Utilities’ refrigerator-freezer recycling program. Following Thursday’s ceremonial cutting of the electric cord by Tom Stathos, PPL director of customer programs and services, the old faithful fridge was loaded onto a truck and consigned to recycling.

“There go a lot of memories,” she said as two workers from JACO Environmental rolled it onto the truck’s lift gate. “I raised a family with it.”

Smeltz, a retired Line Mountain teacher, said she and her husband, Dennis, got the refrigerator free when they moved into their home along Route 147 some 35 years ago. For the past decade or so, it has been in the basement of her home, keeping drinks and canning supplies cold.

“It was our first fridge, and someone told me if we went up to her grandmother’s house in Oaklyn, near Sunbury, we could have it,” said.

According to PPL’s Stathos, about 95 percent of the old unit will be recycled. Only a few pieces of insulation and the rubber door gasket will wind up in a landfill, he said.

In the new program, PPL customers can have their old refrigerator or freezer hauled away free and receive a $35 rebate, Stathos said. Customers can expect to save up to $150 on their electric bills by retiring old, inefficient equipment, he said.

“I have a funny job,” he said. “I encourage customers to use less of our product.”

PPL and other electric utilities are required by Act 129 to file a plan for consumption reduction targets, Stathos said. They must reduce consumption by 1 percent by 2011 and 3 percent by 2013, he said. PPL has proposed 14 measures that include energy efficiency, conservation, peak load reduction measures, programs and education, all of which are voluntary for customers.

The appliance recycling program is one of those measures. Over the next few years, PPL hopes to collect up to 70,000 units for recycling.

Sam Sirkin is senior program manager for JACO Environmental, the recycler selected by PPL to dispose of recycled appliances. He said JACO, with headquarters in Portland, Ore., operates similar programs for 50 utility companies nationwide.

“We de-manufacture appliances, sending almost all the parts to remanufacturing,” Sirkin said. “We get rid of the greenhouse gases and heavy metals, as well as any toxic or environmental hazards.”

Before loading the Smeltz’s refrigerator, the JACO workers smashed the temperature control module and cut off the door gaskets to permanently disable the unit.

According to PPL, a 20-year-old refrigerator uses up to 1,400 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, while newer, energy efficient units consume from 400 to 500 per year. PPL residential consumers are paying about 8.2 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, so the newer model will cost about $75 less to operate each year.

PPL Electric utilities Customers can schedule a free pickup of their old, working refrigerator, freezer or room air-conditioner by calling 1 (877) 270-3522.