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Jun 11, 2009 10:57 pm US/Central
Good Question: What Happens To Old TVs?
(WCCO)
Even though you don't need to buy a new TV to get digital over-the-air television, many Americans have been doing just that. So, what happens to all the old television sets?
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, in the three year period from 2008-2010, people who use antennas to receive television are expected to remove 14.4 million televisions from their homes. Some will donate those TVs to other people, others will recycle them, and CEA expects fewer than 6 percent will end up in the trash.
In Minnesota, throwing your television in the trash is not a choice. It's against the law.
"Through Hennepin County programs we recycled 50,000 televisions last year," according to Angie Timmons, communications coordinator for Hennepin County Environmental Services.
Since 2006, the state has required CRT televisions to be recycled, due to mercury and lead in the television sets. In Hennepin County, residents pay nothing to drop off TVs at the recycling collection centers in either Bloomington or Brooklyn Park.
"I think they have a sense that there are hazardous materials in the televisions but don't exactly know why," said Timmons.
The county bundles up the old CRT sets and delivers them to Materials Processing Corporation in Eagan.
"We're expecting an onslaught of CRTs and we're prepared for it," said Bob McCarthy, Vice President of Business Development at MPC.
MPC employees break down the television sets and sort all the component parts into their different materials. They pull out the plastic, which is sold and then reused in inexpensive lawn furniture. The copper wires are removed and recycled, and the circuit board is shredded so the precious metals can be salvaged.
The most hazardous part of the television is the picture tube, which has quite a bit of lead in the glass. That is sent to a glass recycler, who tries to recycle the clean glass and safely dispose of the lead.
"We're seeing a lot of bigger 32-inch TVs dropped off, with all the new flat-screens coming out," said McCarthy. In his view, people are trading up to the new high-definition digital-ready TV sets.
Even in a bad economy, the Consumer Electronics Association reports that TV sales are up 32 percent compared to this same period last year.
"We're going through millions of pounds of material every year," he said. "And nothing will end up in a landfill."
Recycling and selling all of the metal and plastic from a TV set doesn't net MPC a lot of money, though. The parts from an average TV net the company "well under a dollar," he said.
The labor costs for disassembling a set far outpace that, and that's why many companies and recycling centers charge for the service. Many metro Twin Cities counties have teamed up to operate
RethinkRecycling.com, a one-stop destination to find a place to send your old TV set.
There's been controversy over electronics recycling companies sending their raw materials to China to be processed under horrible labor conditions, and according to McCarthy, there are plenty of unscrupulous people in his industry who are looking to cash in.
"A lot of businesses want to know" if the materials are being processed ethically, he said.
"The best way to do it is to make sure you're using a no-landfill facility and that they are being audited," McCarthy explained.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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