Recycle your soon-to-be-obsolete TV set

On Feb. 18, little more than three months from now, your old analog TV may not work without a converter. Millions of Americans will be nudged into scrapping their old sets and buying digital.

But before you dump your old television at a landfill, where its toxic innards, including lead, mercury and cadmium, can contaminate your air and water, check out the Environmental Protection Agency's Plug-In To ECycle website to answer the question: What do I do with my old TV?

Not only will recycling help the environment, but the plastics, metals and other components in the old TVs can be reused, thus cutting back on greenhouse gases from manufacturing that are disrupting our climate. Besides factoids, podcasts, a video and a moderate dose of feel-good propaganda, EPA's website directs you to local programs to assist you in donating or recycling your old electronics. And that includes old cellphones and computers too.

If you're unsure whether you'll need a new TV, here's some guidance from our colleague Jim Puzzanghera, along with a handy explanatory illustration.

-- Margot Roosevelt

Photo: Worker disassembles TV sets at a Japanese recycling plant Credit: Yomiuri Shimbun/Freelance

Comments

[Irene Farnsworth]

This article ignores the main environmental problem with this switch over: That it is happening at all. While this blog attempts to sugar coat the change, making people feel as though they are acting sustainably by buying a new TV and recycling the old one, it is this constant production of unnecessary goods that has propelled our world into the waste crisis that it faces.
And while it is better that those toxins are dealt with by recycling companies instead of stewing in a landfill, these items are often shipped overseas to be handled in third world countries using substandard, dangerous methods. If one is truly concerned about greenhouse gases, the release of those toxins will be only part of it: What about all of the energy and raw materials it takes to make a new TV?
All this article really suggests about being environmentally conscious is that it is just one more idea to consume and blindly follow, just like the material consumption that TV manufacturers and media corporations are demanding.

[Tim K.]

So Irene, I'm unclear about what exactly you are proposing - leave the old TV in your house and turn it into a footstool?

Or are you basically saying "give up tv you blind sheep"?

[Paul D. Lawrence]

I'm little concerned. I don't have a TV, for watching TV causes cerebral atrophy.

[Geez]

Why not just keep the old TV and buy the converter? That would be a lot more environmentally friendly (not to mention cheaper) than buying a whole new TV.

[Steve T]

I plan to drop my old analog TV at the recycling station this weekend, and join the ranks of the TV deprived. Perhaps I can cure some of my TV induced brain atrophy by reading all those books I never got around to reading.

[Joe D]

This article is very vague. "Your old analog TV may not work without a converter." We know it won't work without a converter. Analog sets won't decode a digital signal. That's what this government subsidized converter box program is for. Anyone who has an old analog set to get an over the air signal is not going to be nudged into getting a new TV. TV is probably not a big priority in their lives. Neither is surfing the Times website on their computer, so the chances of the actual target market seeing this article is slim.

[Karl in Burbank]

My "old" TV works fine with a converter box. In fact, it now gets more channels and the picture is much better. Throwing away a perfectly good TV is hardly "green"

[fatboy]

So how did the manfacturers bribe the Congress to force this on us?

[Kelson]

An analog TV will still work just fine. It just won't be able to pick up digital broadcasts *over the air*.

Even without a converter box, you'll still be able to use the TV with a DVD/VCR/Blu-Ray/whatever player, and chances are that your cable or satellite service will be just fine as well.

[julian entsminger]

This article does not address the fact that these tv's will work fine with a FCC mandated low-cost antenna converter. They will, by and large, and this article should have said that. Jeez, 40 bucks or so for an ota converter at any major electronics store, a gov rebate-c'mon guys!!

[Christopher Higgins]

I think only the lazy and those looking for an excuse will go out and buy a new T.V. right away.

http://thetechnutz.wordpress.com/

[miss_msry]

Or old TV gave up the ghost after nearly 20 years of faithful service just in time for the switch to HD. Now I need to find a battery-powered HDTV for those times when the electricity goes out. (3 weeks after Ike.)

But, I don't watch that much television, so I could have lived without HD.

[Zan Dubin Scott]

Seven cities from Santa Barbara to Carson will host recycling collection centers on Sat., Nov. 15 for California Recycles Day. Most sites are collecting e-waste: http://www.recycleday.org/events.php

California Recycles Day is part of the annual America Recycles Day (ARD), the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. Millions of people participate. CA EPA is one of the state’s top sponsors.

Probably the biggest local e-centered event will be at Carson’s Home Depot Center. ASL Recycling, which hosts e-waste collection events in So. Cal. nearly every weekend and recently opened an operation in Carson, is the coordinator: http://www.aslrecycling.com/collectionevents.php Every month ASL prevents some 600 tons of e-waste from being dumped in local landfills and is recycling 98%of the material that comes through the facility.

Nokia's Electronic Waste Collection & Recycling Event
November 15, 2008
9am to 4pm
Carson, CA
FREE

Common Electronics Accepted: Televisions, computer monitors, computers (CPU's), laptops, keyboards, printers, mice, hard drives, fax machines, microwave ovens, DVD players, VCRs, cables and cords, telephones, cell phones, radios, shredders, stereo components, power supplies, tape and zip drives, oscilloscopes, PC boards, lab equipment, loose PCBA's, optical drives, and more...

*Not accepted: Large Appliances, Toner Cartridges, Florescent Bulbs or Batteries of any kind.

**Note: All hard drives will be completely destroyed and irretrievable.

[Doz Framgo]

i wish recycling would not be the problem in future.authorites hav to take measures