As more and more households upgrade their old TVs to the newer flat panels, a troubling question must be asked: What happens to the old ones? Over the next few years, an estimated one billion pounds of discarded TVs and monitors are anticipated to hit the waste stream.
Recycling seems like the easy answer, but, as usual, the reality is more complicated than that.
To start with, in order for a product to be recycled, there has to be a market for the recycled material. In the case of old TVs, a large component of that material is cathode ray tube glass, or CRT. Up until recently, CRT glass was recycled into new CRT glass, but the market has virtually dried up as electronics makers phase out old model TVs.
Additionally, recycling CRT is tricky because, like many electronics, it contains toxic chemicals—in this case lead, a dangerous neurotoxin. Recycling facilities have to ensure that workers aren’t exposed to lead and that lead is not released into the environment. And because of this high lead content, CRT glass isn’t suitable for most recycled glass products.
This leaves recyclers and state regulators in a conundrum. Recyclers can’t continue to stockpile these TVs and monitors indefinitely. And while many states have bans on sending these units to landfill, California is now considering removing this ban to allow CRT glass to be sent to landfills that are designated for hazardous waste.
But is there a better alternative to land-filling? Could a new financially viable market for recycled CRT glass be developed, one that has the potential to create net benefits for human health and the environment?
And that’s where the Eco-Challenge Series, Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) crowd-sourcing competition on InnoCentive.com, comes into play. The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the trade group of promoting the U.S. consumer electronics industry, has just launched “The Cathode Ray Tube Challenge: New Uses for Recycled Glass.” This is an “ideation” challenge that is looking for new, out-the-box ideas for reusing CRT.
Over the next 30 days, InnoCentive global community of “Solvers”—scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs in more than 200 countries—will have the opportunity to propose new ideas. The winning solution will be assessed for economic as well as environmental and health benefits, and awarded $5,000 provided by CEA. Up to four additional solutions are eligible for awards of $1,000 or more.
We expect that the ideas selected will require further study and testing, but who knows? Maybe a viable solution is just around the corner. We’ll report back when the results are announced in early 2012.
4 Comments
I just learned about this "challenge" while reading a daily Ziff-Davis technology update newsletter. I have been involved with the CRT applications aspect of industry for more than 40 years, and this project / challenge is interesting to me – but I can not seem to discover HOW to get involved…. Can you help me with that, or are you looking only for "turn-key solutions" from companies? I honestly believe there are many resources that could be brought to bear, including scientists associated (or formerly associated) with the large CRT glass suppliers, such as Corning, Philips, and Lancaster. This is just "the tip of the iceburg" in my opinion, and I am sure a consortium of ideas can be gathered to help.
By the way, my personal greater concern is not over the glass, but over the phosphor that is deposited on the face of every CRT. I believe THAT chemical is far more environmentally dangerous than the CRT glass, because the lead in CRT glass is chemically bonded and thus would require a chemical reaction to unbond it and allow it to enter the ecosystem. The phosphor, on the other hand, is only deposited, and could be washed out whenever the seal integrity of the CRT is compromised.
If anyone can help me gain understanding of how to be more involved, and also how to involve various industry experts who can contribute, please do contact me. I am semi-retired now, and do have time to help pursue the goal of dealing with this concern.
The plastic of tv's could be recycled to produce biobiesel, gasoline and methane gases .
The plastic could also be used solar panels, and other plastic manufatcuring processes.
The glass tubes can be recycled .The electronics should be able to reycled as well .
People should be charged a fee to dispose of their old tv's to pay for the cost of recycling .
We need to analyze these usages to stop making landfills which take hundreds of years to break them down.
We need to quit being dependent on foreign oil .
Iam currently building a prototype that will meltplastic from tvs in a non oxygen environment and will be testing toxicity levels as well .
I have seen this done on u-trube .
aka pyrolysis .method
Brian
Now is the time to recycle !
Good luck!!! You will need it. The lead in the CRT's is obviously toxic and will leach into the ground water for years and years. i hope someone smarter then me comes up with a viable and profitable solution.
WRONG – lead in TV glass does NOT "leach" – it is chemically bonded. As a matter of fact there is equal or higher lead content in "leaded crystal" that many folks continue to buy, use, and discard when broken.
The toxic content within the TV tube is the phosphor – not the lead.