Friday, June 26, 2009

Recycling TV's

I hate to admit it but I have 5 televisions. 2 are in good working order. One has a tendency to lose it's picture after a while. My 13" got zapped by lightning some years back but I think it still works. And then there is another with wacky color. It works ok in black and white mode. I should really get rid of 3 of them. One for the RV and one for the mobile home is good enough. The others just take up space. Now that I have to have a converter box I can only hook up 2 TV's at a time. I suppose the others would be ok for DVDs but I only have one DVD player.

Anyway, I saw an article in the online paper announcing a recycling event at a downtown park. They are accepting anything with a power cord, free of charge...except TV's. Televisions cost $10 to recycle. I looked at the online comments because I was sure that other people would have something to say about it and sure enough they did. They said that TV's have mercury and other hazardous materials which is why the city charges a fee. Then the commenters started bickering which is typical. But then someone posted a comment that said Best Buy has a recycling program too. Best Buy accepts TV's under 32". They do charge $10 for TV's but they give you a $10 Best Buy gift card in return. That sounds like a much better deal than the city's $10 fee with nothing in return.

What I should do is donate my TV's or freecycle them while they still work. I am not sure the thrift store still accepts TV's. Come to think of it, I haven't noticed any TV's in the thrift store lately. I used to see them all the time. Perhaps they don't want to be stuck paying $10 to get rid of a junk TV. I wouldn't blame them. I already paid plenty of money to unload my renter's junk and it was not fun at all.

8 comments:

Over the Cubicle Wall said...

you could open a sports bar with all those TV's. The Thirsty Cactus has a nice ring to it. :)

Daizy said...

That's a good name!

Sallie's Niece said...

Very timely advice as I'm getting rid of two t.v.s this weekend myself - one I have away on freecycle and one (broken) I'm bringing in to Best Buy.

Daizy said...

Hello Sallie's Niece and fellow TV collector. :) Of course you are combining residences and your roomie probably has a flat screen or plasma or something cool. I just collect TV's for no good reason at all.

Lizzie @ her homeworld said...

Freecycle gets my vote. You might be able to get them to take something else from the clear out as they are visiting to pick up the telly!

rinter said...

yes go ahead and do the best buy one, I got my 10 bucks in gift cards and used them quickly

Daizy said...

Lizzie, I am nervous about having people show up at my house. I usually meet them in a parking lot or at the end of my road. Of course that means I have to load the stuff in my truck by myself. I did allow people to pick up my washer and dryer though. There was no way I could lift those!

Daizy said...

rinter, I suppose I would have known about the program long ago if I ever shopped there. It's a good way to get me to go back in though. I tried turning on one of my old TV's and it won't change channels anymore. I guess it is dead.