Locals have opportunity to recycle TVs, electronics
Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, August 4, 2009
For TVs that now flicker or buzz instead of displaying nightly programming, Keep Midland Beautiful has found a place for them.
Its television recycling day, being held Saturday in conjunction with several other organizations, is offering locals a place to get rid of old TVs without dumping them at the curb.
And after lacking a recycling company that would accept TVs in recent years, KMB's Executive Director Doreen Richardson said she's stressing locals get rid of TVs while they can because she doesn't know if they'll be able to offer the service again soon.
Computers and other electronics, she said, still will be accepted at the organization's annual recycling days as has been the case in the past several years.
In addition to the up to 8 pounds of lead in some TVs, older sets also typically contain mercury, lithium and other elements that can be harmful when dumped in a landfill, Richardson said.
Stacy Guidry, program assistant for Texas Campaign for the Environment, agreed, and said with the recent conversion to digital television there's been a surge in TVs considered obsolete, many of which people have no qualms about tossing in the trash.
"A lot of people don't know there's even lead and mercury or toxic materials inside their TV," Guidry said.
Between 2004 and 2007, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the number of TVs entering the waste stream increased by 14 percent with nearly 27 million being discarded in 2007.
The EPA estimates in addition to televisions being thrown out, there are another 99 million Americans have accumulated in storage.
Mercury found some sets can cause impaired neurological development when it comes into contact with children and lead, even in low levels, can cause learning disabilities and other defects if ingested by children, according to the EPA.
By recycling TVs, these substances as well as others that can pose risks to the environment and public health can be stripped from the cathode ray tubes and recycled into other products or safely discarded.
Richardson said they've partnered with a recycling company in Houston that received funds through several TV manufacturers to recycle televisions in the Lone Star state.
Aside from locally funded programs like this, Guidry said there often aren't a lot of options for recycling all types of TVs, which is something they're trying to change statewide.
The Legislature did pass a bill during its last session that would hold TV manufacturers responsible for recycling a percentage of the old televisions needing such services. However, Gov. Rick Perry vetoed the bill saying it would "generate unfair results and stifle competition," according to his Web site, because it would hold companies responsible for recycling based on their current sales and not on past sales.
Richardson said they encourage locals to donate any old TVs that still function to Goodwill, the Salvation Army or another local charity as its best to reuse items when possible. When that's not an option, she said, then they should be recycled.
The Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission, Keep Odessa Beautiful, Keep Midland Beautiful, both the city of Midland and Odessa and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality are sponsoring this event.
"Not participating in this weekend could mean that it is several years again before they'll have an outlet again to recycle their TVs," Richardson said.