Toxic TVs headed for trash
When U.S. airwaves go digital next year, people may throw out millions of analog TVs containing up to 8 pounds of lead each. But research on the environmental effects of junked TVs sends mixed signals.
No one knows how many old television sets are gathering dust in garages and basements across the U.S., but this much is clear—digital is in, and analog TVs are on their way out.
Many old TVs may end up in landfills, or worse, dumped in roadside graves. On February 17, 2009, U.S. airwaves that have carried moving pictures since 1939 will go blank. Congress approved a complete switch to digital signals for all broadcast television, and people who rely on broadcasts "over the air" will have to either purchase a digital TV or use government-provided coupons to buy a converter box for $40–70.
The switch has some environmental groups worried about where discarded TVs will go if millions of households decide to spring for new digital sets. "It used to be that people kept their TV until it was dead," says Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the nonprofit Electronics TakeBack Coalition. "But now there's such a push to replace old things."
Cable and satellite users won't notice the switch, but the nonprofit Consumers Union estimates that 23 million people will need converters or new TVs. Many might purchase digital TVs instead of converter boxes, according to the nonprofit U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, whose secret-shopper surveys found retailers misinforming customers about their options.
Most analog TVs use cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and each CRT is lined with 4–8 pounds of lead to block X-rays generated with the picture.
Tim Townsend began studying what happens to TVs in landfills more than a decade ago, when Florida was considering classifying them as hazardous waste. "People knew they had lead in them and knew they were being disposed of," he says, but no one knew whether they posed a danger. Townsend, an engineer at the University of Florida, started smashing CRTs in his lab and used a test designed by the U.S. EPA to see how much lead would leach out as water percolates through a landfill, "like the coffee coming out of coffee grounds," he says.
His initial tests on CRTs, published in ES&T (2000, 34, 4376–4381), (PDF: 158 KB) revealed a problem—on average, about 18 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of lead leached out, well above EPA's test limit of 5 mg/L. Partly on the basis of this finding, EPA ruled that CRTs are hazardous waste. However, it exempted households from CRT rules, so in many states citizens can still toss TV sets into landfills.
The EPA test gives worst-case results, Townsend says. His later results show that much less lead escapes (PDF: 127 KB) from CRTs under more realistic landfill conditions. Lead levels in lab tests with actual landfill leachate (PDF: 101 KB) were often well below EPA limits. He's now analyzing data from his own homemade landfills.
Townsend finds his research being used to support both sides of the debate. On the one hand, he says that TVs often don't leach much lead. "But it's always better to recycle and keep these things out of landfills," he adds. Leachate from landfills has to be treated, and recycling helps avoid "digging more lead out of the ground somewhere else in the world."
Today's flat-panel LCD and plasma TVs could create a new set of environmental problems, Townsend adds. LCD lamps contain mercury, and no one is sure what happens to liquid crystals in the environment. Plus, all TVs contain lead solder on circuit boards. Townsend's initial tests haven't found enough mercury leaching from LCD lamps to qualify as hazardous waste, but he says any heavy metal is a concern.
To keep TVs and other electronics out of landfills, the Electronics TakeBack Coalition is pushing TV manufacturers to establish recycling programs. So far, Sony is the only producer to do so in the U.S.
Cities and states also have a patchwork of recycling programs, which vary in cost and convenience. For example, in Washington, D.C., residents are limited to two free drop-off days per year—the city's Department of Public Works aims to provide weekly opportunities—or to paying $45 or more to private recyclers. And U.S. residents donate 23 million pounds of electronics to Goodwill Industries each year, says spokesperson Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, including many TVs. "We expect an influx of TVs in the next year and beyond," she says, noting that the charity is working to educate its low-income customers about the switch to digital.
