Coming flood of TVs stirs recycling efforts

Analog broadcasts to end in February, so many scrap sets

Tim Felegie of Arlington, Va., dropped off his 20-year-old TV, with push buttons and faux wood, at a local recycling center. (Richard A. Lipski/washington post)

WASHINTON - A stack of old television sets towered above Tim Webster as he put his own dust-covered, 20-year-old set onto the heap. He had replaced it with a new flat-screen TV and decided it was time to part with his old living-room companion.

"We were just waiting to see if this one had any use and, it turns out, it really doesn't," said Webster, who lives in Arlington, Va.

Recycling centers and landfills across the country are preparing for a surge of unwanted sets in coming months. Next February, most broadcasts will be available only in digital form. As a result, sets that rely on antennas to receive over-the-air analog signals will no longer work on their own. At the same time, prices of digital sets continue to drop, encouraging consumers to upgrade.

Last year, about 68 million televisions were thrown out, given away, or recycled, according to the Consumer Electronics Association's estimates. That number could grow this year: About 14 million households rely on over-the-air broadcasts, according to the Nielsen Co.

Tossing the old television is not an analog user's only option. Consumers can purchase converter boxes, which generally cost $40 to $100, to translate the digital signal to analog, and can apply for government-sponsored coupons worth $40 to help pay for the converters. Subscribers to cable or satellite services will not have to do anything to continue watching on older analog sets.

Webster decided to spring for a digital set because the prices have become more affordable.

He was one of hundreds of Arlington residents who dropped off a total of 16,500 pounds of televisions for recycling April 19.

Electronics pose environmental threats because they contain hazardous chemicals, including cadmium in displays and toxins in circuit boards. Old-style televisions and monitors with cathode ray tubes contain lead. Environmentalists say such substances can be harmful when buried, potentially leaching toxins into groundwater.

Many municipalities have set up recycling sites and events geared toward electronics, including cellphones, computers, and VCRs. Televisions are not always accepted, partly because they are more expensive to transport and recycle. Consumers often have to pay $10 to $50 to recycle a television, which creates an economic incentive to toss it into the landfill.

Some regions are anticipating a 30 percent increase in the number of televisions dropped off at recycling centers, according to Anne Reichman, program director for Earth 911, an Arizona-based company that helps coordinate recycling efforts across the country.

"We're seeing retailers provide sales that will entice consumers to upgrade to a better, more energy-efficient, cooler TV," she said. "But we're not confident the old TVs aren't going to landfills."

A dozen states have set up recycling programs for electronics, often requiring manufacturers to contribute to the recycling effort.

"I think we'll see the largest increase before the transition happens in November and December, during the holiday shopping season," said Brent Young, director of business development for E-Tech Recycling, which has drop-off centers for electronics in Chantilly, Va., and Portland, Ore.

Tim Felegie of Arlington could not wait that long. When he pulled up to the recycling event last weekend, his 20-year-old Sharp television was in the passenger seat to be dropped off.

Waiting in the car behind him was Mitt Mittendorff, who had bought a new flat-screen and had hauled his old 31-inch television to be recycled. "It's huge, and you have to hit it sharply in the corner sometimes to make it work."