TV graveyard after digital switchover

Possibly connected to the ‘digital switch-over’, there has been an increase in the number of unwanted televisions left at recycling centres in the Borough, according to a waste management officer at Limavady Borough Council.

Despite a great number of the TVs needing nothing more than a ‘freeview box’ to allow them to convert the new digital signals, scores of televisions have been wantonly abandonded to recycling centres in Limavady.

Stacked high at the recycling centre on the Ballyquin Road were numerous televisions, many of which were in perfectly good working condition aside from the now mandatory freeview box - which can be bought for as little as £15 from some outlets.

Very little is actually wasted from the old TVs, with all the old sets left in recycling centres throughout the Limavady Borough being taken apart, put through a recycling process and later moved on. John McCarron, a waste management officer at Limavady Borough Council explained that the materials later end up in new TVs, children’s bicycles and new cars after the components are shredded and moved on.

Speaking about the increase in the numbers being recycled since the digital switch-over, Mr McCarron said: “Regarding the numbers of TVs, there certainly has been an increase, but maybe not as many as we might have thought. We were kind of expecting it to be a lot worse. We are collecting TVs there (Limavady’s recycling centre at the Ballyquinn Road) all the time.

“What happens is the TVs are taken away and put through a recycling process. Some of them still have valves inside them, believe it or not – some of them are that old. They are screwed apart individually because there can still be gasses and things like that to think about.
“We have no doubt that there are TVs going through that are in perfectly good working condition. There is a lot of legislation in terms of what we can do with them.

“As soon as they come on to the recycling centres in Limavady or Dungiven they are automatically classified as waste so there is a lot of legislation about what we can actually do with them. With TVs and other electrical equipment there is obviously an inherent safety consideration. We wouldn’t want people to come to any harm attempting to use them without safety checks.

“In a sense, nothing is wasted. Obviously there are financial implications and we have to put them through a process. It is better if all the various parts are recovered. They are almost always re-used. Some of them may end up in new TVs, the plastics are shredded and they can end up almost anywhere – they can be used in everything from children’s bicycles and cars; all sorts of things.”