WasteBusters manager Brian Fitzgerald told the Central Otago District Council yesterday the recycling centre was expecting to receive between 300 to 500 televisions in the next 18 months, as people upgraded to new sets before the switch to digital television in 2013.
"The last thing we want is for the old ones to go into the landfill, as they contain all kinds of materials, and can contain up to 5kg of lead, for example."
Older televisions also contained arsenic and other contaminants.
Although WasteBusters charged people $7.50 per set to take the unwanted televisions, the real cost of dealing with the goods was $23 a set. The expected influx of televisions in the next 18 months would cost the centre up to $11,500 to deal with.
"We hadn't planned for that in our costs, so want the council to review our budget if it becomes an issue for us," Mr Fitzgerald said.
"We only imposed the partial payment [of the full cost] as we don't want to frighten people off and then find TVs dumped."
WasteBusters had 200 bare television screens already in its yard and 150 old televisions, 100 computer monitors and 100 computer printers. Some of the parts within those goods were recoverable and it wanted to continue to encourage people to recycle electronic waste.
The group made a submission to the annual plan which was considered by the council yesterday. The council recommended costs for recycling television sets be included within WasteBusters' budget but said if the group came under pressure as a result of masses of sets being dropped off to the centre, the council would make allowances for the extra cost.
