Disposing of TVs might seem fairly simple. That is, until you try to do it. Old TVs can't be thrown in the trash and new TVs are too big for the car.

TV disposal is actually a bit more involved than many people realize. because there are several rules and regulations involved. But there is an easier way...

Disposing of TVs Shouldn't Have to be So Hard, Should It?

Back in the not-always-so good ol' days, it was a fairly straightforward thing. If your TV went on the fritz, as they used to say, and the old set had shown it's last shimmer of black and white broadcast television programming, then you just tossed it out.

Of course, they often weighed a ton and were bulky, to boot. But regardless of what it took to get the thing out of the house, the final destination was the trash dumpster or the dump. 

End of story.

Except that we soon learned that was not the end of the story. Those old sets, the ones that were manufactured by the millions prior to the advent of flat-screen televisions, were built around a cathode ray tube. 

Now, these types of TVs were still built for years after the first flat-screen TV hit the market. As it is reported by a story at CNET,

"1997 was the year the first flat-panel TVs really hit the consumer market ( Fujitsu having started plasma production in late 1996 ). This TV was flat. It was the future. It was expensive."

In fact, too expensive for most people. And they remained that way until the mid-2000s. That's also about the time CRT sets and production of them began to decline rapidly.  And, what was once a ubiquitous fixture in almost every American home started to become a collectors item.

According to The Verge,

"CRTs were once synonymous with television. By 1960, nearly 90 percent of American households had one. But at the turn of the millennium, their popularity rapidly decayed as LCD panels flooded the market. Even though CRTs comprised an estimated 85 percent of US television sales in 2003, analysts were already predicting the technology’s demise. In 2008, LCD panels outsold CRTs worldwide for the first time. Sony shut down its last manufacturing plants that same year, essentially abandoning its famous Trinitron CRT brand. By 2014, even stronghold markets like India were fading, with local manufacturers switching to flat-panel displays."

The problem, however, is that many of those millions of cathode ray tubes are still around and they have a toxic issue: lead. 

Turns out that these old TV sets with now decaying CRTs inside had toxic levels of lead in the glass funnel of the cathode ray tubes. In fact, a large CRT can contain up to five pounds of lead. While it is usually safely encased in the glass, if this is broken it can present a health hazard.

The problem with the old TVs is that there are so many of them. 

A 2011 EPA-commissioned report estimated that over 580 million CRT televisions (not counting computer monitors) had been sold in the US since 1980. In addition, the average CRT was used for 11 years and kept in storage long after that. 

The good news is that they can still be safely processed and disposed of with an eco-friendly process. But there rules to follow when disposing of them. In fact, because these old TVs contain toxic metals that could leach into a dump site, 18 states specifically ban them from landfills.

Large, Flat Screen TVs - The Other Disposal Challenge

Disposing of TVs that are the flat-screen versions comes with its own challenges.

These televisions may not have all the various toxic substances often found in the old-style TVs, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and barium , but they have some.  For example, those older large screen devices that were built using LCD lights can contain up to 20 mercury-filled tubes.

Mercury is a toxic metal and hard to contain. When exposed to the air, humans can be poisoned by inhalation or ingestion, or even skin contact with mercury. While it is true that most of the newer flat screen TVs have little if any hazardous materials in their construction, they're still hard to move around, difficult to load into any vehicle that's not a truck, and banned from landfills in many states and counties.

So, the question that should be asked is, "Can they be recycled?"

The short answer is, yes, they can. And there are precious metals that can be extracted from these devices including gold and sometimes palladium. And, for the most part, any plastics can often be recycled, as well. The problem for the typical owner looking to properly dispose of their old, flat screen TV is where to take it. 

Depending on where you live there may be community recycling events that allow you to drop off device such as your old TVs and computer monitors. Sometimes, manufacturers have programs that accept old units for recycling. But those options are not universal nor always available for everyone.

No worries! Junk King has you covered. One call to Junk King and we can have our expert team of TV removal professionals at your home or place of work in no time. We specialize in making the chore of disposing of TVs easy.

Call Junk King and Make Disposing of TVs Fast and Easy

Calling Junk King is an easy and efficient TV disposal and  recycling process.

And not only can Junk King provide you fast, professional, and local TV disposal services, we can quickly and easily remove all types of used electronics like laptops, desktop computers, monitors, and appliances. 

By the way, we also haul away just about any other type of household junk in your home and taking up space. In fact, we take almost everything except household hazardous waste.

Junk King has the equipment, resources, and expertise to remove large flat screen TVs and other large electronics up your stairways, your basement steps, or out from your garage.  And, no matter what else your junk consists of, Junk King can get it out of your way and out of your home.

We provide an eco-friendly junk removal and disposal service so yo can get rid of any unwanted junk including potentially hazardous electronics in an environmentally safe and green way. 

Our professional and insured junk removal team will show up at your home (or office) and we call 15 to 30 minutes before we arrive on site. Once there, we’ll give you a free estimate based on how much room your junk takes up in our truck.

It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3. You point and we haul your unwanted TVs and other items into our junk removal trucks, with no hidden fees.

You can make an appointment by booking online above or by calling 1.888.888.JUNK (5865).