Nov 15, 2008 10:53 pm US/Central
TV Recycling Booming Ahead Of DTV Switch
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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First, the plastic comes off and is tossed aside. Then comes the copper, the wires and the rest of the metal, which get bundled and sent away.
CBS
When televisions switch to a digital signal this February, many will be getting rid of their old TV.
In Minnesota, it's against the law to put it or a computer monitor in a landfill, so recycling centers have seen a lot more business.
But, once it's dropped off, where does it go?
At first it's a little shocking to watch the first steps in recycling a TV or computer monitor.
More than 100,000 of them come from all over Minnesota to the waste management plant in northeast Minneapolis. Each one is taken apart by hand.
First, the plastic comes off and is tossed aside. Then comes the copper, the wires and the rest of the metal, which get bundled and sent away.
"The wires get recycled basically through wire recovery, a smelting-type of process. Metal recycling just as it has been done for thousands of years," said Joe Ago with waste management.
Eventually, they get to the screens. Most of them are made of cathode ray tubes (CRT). They will be reused abroad.
In the end, Waste Management can recycle about 95 percent of a television. The only thing they can't recycle is the wood, usually because it's covered in laminate or flame retardant.
"We've seen e-waste recycling grow tremendously in the past couple of years in Minnesota," added Ago.
And it doesn't look to slow down anytime soon. One thing more surprising than how televisions are recycled is how many there are.
"It's important to recycle it because we can recycle it. We don't want to put it in a landfill," said Ago.
There are two other companies in the area that also recycle e-waste. Waste Management signed an agreement where they promised their plastics and metals would be reused and recycled in North America in an environmentally-friendly way.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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