Millions of television sets are expected to end up in landfills after all TV stations are requiredto deliver a digital signal in February 2009.
10TV's Andy Hirsch found a TV set that was dumped among the mountains of garbage at theFranklin County Landfill.
Workers there fear that more people will throw out their old TVs with the trash.
Besides taking up space, older TVs, made with cathode ray tubes, are filled with dangerousmaterials like lead and cadmium, a metal that has been linked to cancer, kidney disease and lungproblems.
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio said the landfill is designed to prevent thematerials from getting into the ground.
"We don't want to take any chances," said SWACO spokesman John Remy. "There's lead inthose television sets. There's all kinds of other stuff."
Roland Inthisarn calls his southeast side a factory in reverse. Every day, hundreds ofTVs are shipped to Siam Reclaim Technologies and systematically taken apart. Everything iseither recycled or reused, Hirsch reported.
Steel is removed from the TVs. Most of the glass tubes are packed up and resold. Thebad ones are crushed up and sent to glass recyclers.
"A lot of people aren't going to spend the extra time to drive a big TV down to use and let usrecycle it," Inthisarn said. "It's much easier just to throw it in the trash."
Siam Reclaim charges 35 cents an inch. A 27-inch set would cost a little less than$10. Ohio Computer Recycling will recycle monitors for free through the summer.
More Information:
Locations to Recycle Televisions
Siam Reclaim Technologies, Inc.
3960 Groves Road Unit B
Columbus, OH 43232
614-863-9999
www.siamreclaimtech.com
Fees:
Computer monitors: NO COST
Televisions: $0.35 per inch
Computer components: NO COST
All other E-Waste: NO COST
Ohio Computer Recycling
980 C Claycraft Rd.
Gahanna, Oh 43230
Call 614-856-0523
(9 Free drop off locations)
We take all Computer and Electronic equipment
Free Television Drop off at Claycraft Location Only
