Questions of what will happen to millions of analog TVs following next year’s transition to digital television (DTV) have been answered with news that is also good for the environment, according to a new study released by the Consumer Electronics Association. Indeed, results of the study, "Trends in Consumer Electronics Afterlife," show that households receiving broadcast signals only over-the-air expect to remove fewer than 15 million televisions from their homes through 2010, 95% percent of which will be sold, donated or recycled. Most OTA-only households expect to buy a digital converter box (48%) and continue using the same TV.
“Consumers are far more likely to recycle, reuse, give away or sell analog TVs than throw them away,” says CEA’s Senior Director of Market Research Tim Herbert. “While some have speculated that millions of TVs would enter the waste stream, this new study suggests that is not the case.”
Recycling is an increasingly common way to dispose of unused TVs. In fact, according to the survey, consumers report recycling nearly 30% more TVs in 2007 than in 2005. That trend also extends to other CE categories. While only 3% more devices were removed from homes in 2007, 27% more devices were recycled. At the same time, the number of CE products that end up in the trash is decreasing—down 7% from two years earlier.
Among those consumers that did report throwing away a TV in the last year, 42% reported that they weren’t aware of recycling programs for electronics.
CEA’s consumer website, myGreenElectronics.org educates consumers about the responsible use, reuse and recycling of electronics and also includes a zip-code searchable database of electronics recyclers.
Another option: See the "Vintage Television & Radio" forums at www.audiokarma.org. Many collectors and restorers here would love to have the TVs.
