If your TV gives up the ghost this Halloween…?
Warwickshire residents are being encouraged to give their old TV set a new lease of life in the run up to next year’s digital switchover.
Record numbers of working appliances are being sent for recycling to the county’s nine household waste recycling centres.
One centre is currently handling around 10 tonnes of TVs a month, with around 70 per cent of sets found to be in working order.
Cllr Alan Cockburn, Chair of Warwickshire Waste Partnership and Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment and Economy, said: “It is heartening to see so many environmentally-minded residents recycling rather than trashing their old TVs.
"However, old analogue sets can be retained as a backup for the household to watch DVD and VHS films, hooked up to a games console or converted to receive digital signals with the aid of an increasingly affordable set-top box.”
Some of Warwickshire’s voluntary or community organisations will also gladly accept unwanted working TVs which are inspected, checked and resold – very often with a guarantee. To find you local reuse scheme log onto http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/reuse.
Residents can also try offering their unwanted TV’s through online reuse networks such as Community Freebay (http://www.communityfreebay.org.uk), Freegle (http://www.freegle.org) or Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org).
More information on Waste Minimisation and Recycling, and to locate your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre, can be found by visiting http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/recyclewarks.
The switchover affects TVs which receive signal from an aerial. After switchover begins next year, transmitters will send a digital rather than an analogue signal.