Syracuse, N.Y., Event Collects More Than 1,500 TV Sets

More than 1,500 television sets were collected during a four-hour period Saturday, April 19, 2008, at the Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse, N.Y.

According to the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency (OCRRA), 964 vehicles paid $5 per television set to ensure it safe disposal and recycling at the collection event.

“This is not our first such event at providing the chance for old TV sets to be recycled and kept out of the waste stream,” Tom Rhoads, executive director of OCRRA, says, “but it is a reflection that the numbers will only climb as we approach 2009.”

OCRRA began collecting televisions in April of 2003, receiving 288 sets at that time. In the five years since, the organization has recovered 10,793 televisions for recycling.

“We anticipate that the number of old TVs collected will grow even greater as the television industry transitions from analog to digital by February 2009,” Rhoads says. “OCRRA sees this as an excellent opportunity for collaboration and partnership between producers and generators to avoid a potential explosion of old TVs that would harm efforts to encourage recycling.”