Does your household contribute to the vast amount of e-waste (electronic waste) that has become a big issue for our environment? All of those cool devices and wonders of technology today will probably wind up in a landfill tomorrow, leaching out toxic chemicals such as arsenic and lead. One way to help the world is to recycle our home electronics in a responsible way.
Today let’s talk about televisions. Most households have more than one television. And now that high definition televisions (HDTV) are available, families are eager to upgrade. At the same time, those new HDTVs will one day be old, and they tend to carry more impact to the environment than do some older analog televisions.
When we found a great deal on an HDTV and our old television was starting to have a problem with one corner of the screen, we upgraded. What did we do with our old television? We gave it away on freecycle to a family that was all too happy to have a television at all and didn’t mind the small problem with the corner. (By the way, my husband obtained that television for free when it was going to be thrown out–it served him and us for almost ten years.)
Goodwill and many other thrift stores will take televisions as donation, provided that they function.
If you don’t want to give an old television away, there are ways of recycling it. Sony has a program in which it will recycle any television of its own brand if you drop it off at a designated site (sonystyle.com).
Some stores will haul away recycle any television when you buy a new television and opt for home delivery. I believe that Best Buy has such a policy. At Office Depot, you can purchase recycling boxes for anywhere from $5 to $15. There are different prices per size, and they will recycle anything that can fit inside the boxes.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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