If it was still operational and you were just replacing it to upgrade I'd say sell it cheap on craigslist; that's how we got rid of our old one. When we bought the house, we got them to include the fridge in the deal, so we put the old fridge up on the list, sold it cheap with the caveat that they better bring a strong friend and a dolly b/c we were upstairs. Couple days later we had $75 and an empty hole where a fridge should be
In your case though, that wouldn't be a good idea, so I'd go with asking before you buy if their delivery people will haul off the old one.
-OOOH! Hey, call Southern California Edison and see what programs they have for replacing old fridges with Energy Star ones. They might have a recycling program or even some kind of discount deal for changing it out.
edit: Yep, here you go! You'll get $50 for them picking up your old fridge, and a $50 rebate on buying an Energy Star fridge.