As new high-definition televisions fly off store shelves, millions of old sets soon could be flying into the trash.
A major change to broadcast television in 2009 -- the conversion from analog signals to all digital -- is expected to send many Americans to the store for new TV sets. That could mean a flood of outdated TVs, which contain lead-encased
picture tubes and other hazardous material, heading into landfills.
Area residents interviewed this week don't seem to be buying into the frenzy.
"I'm already digital. I have satellite TV," said Deltona resident Rub Rosenthal.
He watches television on a 1981 Sony Trinitron and the picture is perfect on it, said Rosenthal, who was interviewed in the parking lot at International Speedway Square, the home of Circuit City store.
"Those flat screens are very tempting," Daytona Beach resident Tricia McCloud said while shopping at Best Buy in
Daytona Beach. "But I don't know if I will buy one."
Another area resident, Russ Gibbons, said he wasn't aware of the pending change. Now that he does, he still isn't sure
if he will buy another television. His TV is only seven years old, said Gibbons, who also was at International Speedway Square.
Industry leaders, however, think the change will be big enough to have quite an effect on society.
"There's going to be an e-waste tsunami that hits America," said John S. Shegerian, chief executive of Electronic
Recyclers in Fresno, California's largest electronics recycler.
Lawmakers and environmentalists already are concerned about the amount of technology waste -- laptops, iPods, printers and other gear -- in dumps.
So far, TVs have been less likely to end up in landfills than other electronics, recycling experts say. Although cell phones, computers and other gadgets generally get thrown out or given away when people upgrade, TVs tend to hang around the house if they still work. They're used to play video games or to watch DVDs, or they get plugged into the cable system or hooked to rabbit ears to serve as an extra set.
The latest U.S. Census figures indicate that the average household had 2.5 television sets in 2004, a 25 percent increase since 1990. In all, there were 268 million TV sets.
"There's a lot of different uses," said Parker Brugge, environmental counsel for the Consumer Electronics Association. "That's why the number of televisions in consumers' households keeps going up."
But the calculus that leads Americans to hang on to old TVs could change Feb. 18, 2009.
That's the day a federal law will require all TV stations to start broadcasting only in digital. Tens of millions of old analog
TVs will need to be hooked to a cable or satellite box, or fitted with a special converter, to display the new signals.
Danny Zack, co-owner of Great Lakes-Almet Recycle and Surplus, a scrap metal and electronics recycling firm with an office in Holly Hill, said his company would love to team up with retailers and offer consumers "amnesty days." Customers would be encouraged to drop off their recyclable items at a central location for collection.
"We did one in Detroit (where Great Lakes is headquartered) with Best Buy," Zack said. "We're starting to see plasma
and LCD televisions in the scrap we get for recycling already. We might get 1 for every 5,000 to 6,000 regular television,"
he said.
-- Business Writer Valerie Whitney contributed to this Los Angeles Times report