How To Recycle Your Old TV

So you went out and bought that giant big screen TV you’ve been dreaming of. But if you’re like most people, you now face a new dilemma you likely hadn’t thought much about – what do you do with your old set?

It’s a growing problem as landfills get cluttered with the remnants of unwanted TVs and monitors of the past. Some simply don’t work anymore. Others just aren’t wanted. But all contain components that are bad for the environment and sending them to landfills to rot away and let those contents leach into the soil isn’t a great solution.

That’s where a place like Sims Recycling comes in. The Brampton firm specializes in paring down your old viewing companion’s parts in about 90 seconds and making sure what’s inside gets reused, helping to save the earth.

A monitor, for example, contains 6-8 pounds of lead. A cathode ray tube also has the same toxic substance. And it all adds up. “You can imagine with all the world going flat screen, all the monitors that are going to become obsolete in the coming years,” explains the company’s Kelly McCaig. “That’s a lot of lead that we can help keep out of the landfills and out of the environment.

And there’s reason to rush. For every monitor they dismantle, China turns out 58 brand new flat screens. Only one in four Canadians has an HDTV now. But that number is expected to increase substantially in the next few years.

“We have to remove four classes of hazards: batteries, bulbs, CRTs … and toners and inks,” McCaig relates.

But going green will set you back a small amount of green. It costs 45 cents a pound, or about $17-20 for a 27-inch TV. It’s a small price to pay for such a major contribution to the environment. And that’s not just a big screen – that’s a big deal.

Here are some resources you can use to ensure your electronics don’t wind up as part of Mother Nature’s scrap heap.

TVs

SIMS Recycling

Computer Monitors

Accu-Shred

Other Methods

Sometimes the best option isn’t to recycle, but reuse. That’s where the Electronic Recycling Association comes in. They’ll take your old computers and give them to schools, libraries, charities, nursing homes and other places in need for free. Find them here.

The Electronics Product Stewardship is an industry-based non-profit that tries to figure out solutions to tech waste. They’ll answer most of your questions here.

To see Consumer Specialist Jee-Yun Lee’s blog on this story, click here.

From our archives:

“Recycling fee” could be slapped on future Ontario electronic purchases