In the United States, many people are getting up-to-date with their electronic devices and are cleaning their homes to make room for the more advanced TV sets and such. However, for the Environmental Protection Agency and activists who are concerned about soil, water and air pollution, careless ditching of old appliance is seen as something that must be hindered, if not stopped entirely.

EPA has made efforts to reduce pollution caused by careless waste management of electronic devices, such as TV sets and PC monitors, to name a few. Also called electronic waste, old appliance such as TVs contribute largely to pollution if not properly disposed of. EPA estimates that there about almost 100 million unused old TV sets sitting idly in millions of American households.

The call to surrender old TV sets to electronic waste recycling events has been quite effective, with many people coming out and lining to hand their decrepit electronic garbage to the EPA.

An old TV can be reduced to usable parts, as there are substantial amounts of cadmium, chromium, barium, and traces of gold and even mercury in the lamps of some flat screens.

For people who still own old types of television sets, EPA suggests that the best way to keep them is to use them. EPA is only after the unused ones to ensure that they are properly discarded and reduced to parts that are harmless to the environment.

TVs that are equipped with cathode-ray tubes, also known as the non-flat screen TVs, must not be disposed in landfills. There are already state-regulated laws that focus on TV disposal. According to Barbara Kyle of the San Francisco-based Electronics TakeBack Coalition, six states have already declared that improper disposal of TV sets is illegal. Five other states are slated to follow in 2010.

In a recycling event held in El Cerrito, California, TV sets were turned over for the recycling process.

The first step is dismantling the plastic case by removing the screws. Sometimes, a few medium taps with hammer is needed to loosen the really old ones. The cords are then taken out and put into a waiting bin. These are stripped of their copper. The fun part, according to the dismantlers, is the breaking of the vacuum seal on the cathode ray tube. Breaking this device is important since an intact cathode ray tube can “go off like a bomb” if it is accidentally dropped.

Using a hammer and an awl, methodical strikes are then made in the hole left in the tube when the air was sucked out of the tube when it was made. This helps fill in the vacuum safely.

Once the tube is broken, five to seven pounds worth of reusable lead can be collected from the funnel of the tube. However, the lead can only be extracted from recycling plants. Along with the funnel, the screens are also sent to the plants where they are melted down for reuse in new cathode-ray tubes.

In contrast, the old school method of dismantling a TV set is toxic not only to the environment but for the dismantlers as well. Recycling plants in Asia, according to the Basel Convention, follow hazardous processes that potentially poison the workers.

Additional Information:

Take Back Coalition’s The Problem with Electronics.

California Department of Toxic Substances Control’s analysis of e-waste.

This USAToday article warns to be very careful when you recycle e-waste.