Bought A Digital Television Set? Recycle The Analog Set
PALM DESERT – The day whenTV stations across the country turned off their analog signals to go completely digital has come and gone. So, now what do you do with your analog leftovers? if you’re like Bruce Davis, you bring your old set to a local recycling center.
“It’s plastics. It’s electronics. It potentially has chemicals in it that are harmful to the environment,” he says.
In 2008, Americans bought nearly 27 million digital television sets. and the old sets are either being stored away or thrown away. But Valerie Ward with Burrtec Waste and Recycling Services believes it may be something else.
“I think more people are converting or repairing their TVs,” Ward says.
Most television sets have toxic chemicals in them like lead, cadmium and mercury. In 2007, we threw away more than 26 million TVs.
“It’s really unbelievable that the government didn’t think about, ‘Well what do we, how do we make sure that people aren’t just throwing away their old TV’s in the trash? How do we make sure it’s being managed responsibly?’ So it’s really fallen on the shoulders of local governments to deal with it,” says Barbara Kyle with the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.
The Consumer Electronics Association predicts we will buy about 35 million digitalT.V.’s this year. As far as how many anlog sets will be tossed in the garbage, there are no hard numbers, but it’s estimated to be in the tens of millions.
BeaumontCoastal Recycling Centersc/o Beaumont Self Storage190 East First StreetBeaumont, CA 92223(951)769-7700Office Hours: Monday – Saturday 9:00am to 6:00pm Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm
Cathedral CityCoastal Recycling Centersc/o Date Palm Storage69100 Converse RoadCathedral City, CA 92234(760) 770-8700Office Hours: Open 7 days a week
Palm Desert73750 Dinah Shore Dr.Palm Desert, CA 92211(760) 324-7200Office hours: Monday – Friday 9:00amm to 6:00pm Saturday – Sunday 9:00am to 5:00pm
Palm Desert75050 Merle Dr.Palm Desert, CA 92211(760) 568-0102Office hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am to 6:00pm Saturday 9:00am to 4:00pm
Thousand Palms73230 Varner Rd.Thousand Palms, CA 92276(760) 343-1550Office hours: Monday – Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm Saturday – Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm
