Media Release

Release date: Wednesday 9 October 2013

Last chance to TakeBack your old TV

Saturday is the last chance to dispose of unwanted TVs for a gold coin.

Gisborne has been participating in the Government’s TV TakeBack scheme.  The aim of the scheme is to keep old televisions and their harmful components out of our landfills. The Government has subsidised the cost of recycling unwanted television sets.

Saturday 12 October is the last Gisborne TV Takeback day. People can dispose of their old TV at the Railway Yard in Grey Street between 9am and 3pm on Saturday 12 October. The cost is a gold coin.

After Saturday, transfer stations and TPI All Brites in Innes Street will be happy to take your TV, but it will be treated as waste until a permanent solution to electronic recycling is established. The Government is only subsidising the recycling of a limited number of TVs.

Two TV TakeBack days have already been held on Saturday 14 and 28 September during which over 700 TVs were recycled in Gisborne. A further 50 were recycled through the rural transfer stations. There are many more in peoples spare bedrooms or sheds that do not work after the switch to digital at the end of last month.

Gisborne District Council is supporting the initiative. Waste minimisation officer Anne Lister says “TV Takeback has been timed to coincide with the digital switchover that happened on 29 September. The switchover resulted in an increase in the number of redundant TVs sitting idle in people’s homes and businesses. Some may have thought that their TV would still work after the switchover but now realise it doesn’t. One option is to install a Freeview or Sky decoder. For those that choose not to, we encourage them to recycle their TV by bringing it along to the TV TakeBack day.”

We really want to keep the harmful materials TVs contain out of our soils and waterways. These include lead, mercury and cadmium. There is a cost to recycle a TV as the value of the materials recovered is currently less than the cost of transport and recycling.

Nationwide the Government has committed funding from the Waste Minimisation Fund for TV TakeBack, to cover investment in recycling infrastructure, subsidies for TV recycling and a public awareness programmes. Money for the Waste Minimisation Fund comes from a levy charged on waste disposed of at landfills.

The Government is also investigating options for improving the long-term management of electronic waste in the future.

ENDS

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