getting rid of old TVs - how?

[smokeyblue]

I agree with trying freecycle. It's amazing what people will take.

My town has a trash to treasure day. You can put stuff out on your lawn from 8-4 and people just pick stuff up. I couldn't believe the crap people took! We had two terrible tv's (with notes attached explaining their working order) a humidifier and an old dinosaur stereo with two giant speakers. It was the best day ever! I had been begging to bring this stuff to the dump for years.

Otherwise my township has household rubbish collection once a month and they will take most anything. I'd check the website for your city/township and find out what household waste plan is.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Here's what not to do with it: don't drop it off on the side of the road in the middle of the night in a sparsely populated area just because it's too much trouble to get rid of legitimately . On my way to work one morning, I saw two tube TVs that hadn't been there early the evening before. By Monday, there were three more - and no, I know they don't reproduce themselves.

 

[aprilgail2]

Otherwise, no, it can't be put in the regular trash because it is e-waste. Your local city/county should have free e-waste dumping once a month.

Around here we put it to the curb and the garbage truck comes and picks it up with the rest ofthe trash. I just put an old computer out last week and the garbage men took that too.

What about the local school? And there is always Goodwill.

Our schools do not take donations of anything used-insurance regulations.

 

[jessica52877]

I would think you could sell it or donate it pretty easily. We still have all tube tv's and I have no plans of purchasing anything else soon. I got the last 2-3 at garage sales for $10-20 with build in dvd or vcr.

 

[Golf4food]

I would donate them to a thrift store, Goodwill, a school, a church, etc.

I would not put it out in front of my yard - great advertisement to say "Hey, we just bought new TVs! Come steal them tomorrow while we're at work! (And take these for free, too, if you want.)"

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I put one on Craigslist and got $10 for it. A guy bought it for his son's bedroom.

 

[gwiz5kids]

Well My Trash pickup guy in VA collects the tubes that are inside of the TV's and last month he cashed in $5,000 worth of copper tubes... who knew?

 

[bdcp]

Our trash will pick up one or two at a time under a certain size. No one wants these tv's even though they work. We did give away our huge 36" toshiba flat screen (not flat panel tv) a few months ago. Everyone thought it was a flat panel even though I specified in the ad that it weighed over 200 lbs. I advertised it at work and someone took it. Smaller tv's just don't go. We had a 27" sit out with our trash overnight. No one touched it. They did, however take a broken desk chair

We donate a lot to our church resale store but they will not take tv's. Most thrift stores will not take them either.

 

[cglaura]

Check with local women's shelters too. So many leave/run with just what they can carry. Anything, even older, is appreciated.

 

[pooh98378]

We donate a lot to our church resale store but they will not take tv's. Most thrift stores will not take them either.

Yup, our Goodwill won't take them either.

 

[dizluvah]

Our area is a designated refugee relocation area (from various countries) so there are many local families who would be thrilled to have an old style tv.
Just wanted to mention we never know someone's circumstance - your "trash" could be another families treasure.

 

[pigletto]

I think if they still work freecycle or donating them some place is the best option. If that doesn't work you may want to check with your school/church/workplace. I know dh's work has an electronics recycling program once every few months where they take them away for free.

 

[torinsmom]

Put it on Craigslist or take it to your local thrift shop. We have 3 tvs in our house and they are all still tube tvs. I don't believe in replacing items that work fine, and all our tvs do. I figure by the time I get a newer type tv, there will be something even newer out, and people will be getting ride of their "old" ones, LOL.

 

[MEM]

Of course it depends on your community, but I would not recommend putting your old TV on the curb with a note and hope someone will take it. Too many people do that and the darned things sit there for weeks at a time. The owner is supposed to call for pick up - costs nothing - and in my town they will pick up within the week - but I swear most people can't be bothered.

 

[DisneyCher]

AmVets and Purple Heart have both accepted older TVs from us in the past year or so. We've left them for home pick-up (as opposed to taking them to a shop) and they were accepted.

Edited to add: our TVs were cable-ready and about 10 years old at most.

 

[amcnj]

After last Christmas I saw many tvs and entertainment units sitting by curbs awaiting trash pickup. There are several charity run stores in my area and I wondered why people didn't bring them there instead. Well shortly thereafter I dropped some things off at Goodwill and their parking lot had at least 20 tv's of various sizes (some huge) sitting there in the rain. It seems a shame that so many functional sets ended up being trashed. Many were much newer than ones I still have and use. The one set I had to give up on is from 1986, but when the cable company switched signal types only sets with a remote would work, and this set did not have a remote. I still have not thrown it away though, and it is contributing to my eventually being on the tv show "Hoarders"!

 

[Schotz]

Tube TV's are very dangerous to try and breakdown. Never open one up, the tube can hold a 24,000 volt charge up to 1 month from the last time it was used. Also, the back of the tube is painted with Lead to absorb x-ray radiation. The Tube can and will implode if it's hit right causing death or serious injury (extremely rare) even thou most tubes have implosion protection.

This is one of those thing you should pay someone to dispose of properly. Everyone has a tube TV they are trying to get rid of.

Flat panel TV's tend to break quickly, keep a tv around for a backup.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Does your area have an E-cycling place, or event? Mine does, but maybe not everyone does. I'd check online. We have a place that takes anything with a cord, for recycling. I take stuff there. No charge.

 

[luvmy3]

We have replaced our tube TVs. Dh guts them for parts and then takes them to our local garbage center. He has to prove there is nothing left inside for them to take them though.

 

[leight]

Freecycle, or a women's shelter, senior community center or nursing home. Check with your church to see if they can donate it to a family in need. We disposed of ours for free at our local recycle center- 36" **** tube- but that's because it was definately on its way out. Not worth giving to anyone for them to use then have it break the next week.