Thousands of old Dunedin TV sets are being brought in for recycling thanks to a Government subsidy called the TV TakeBack. Star reporter Dan Hutchinson takes a look at what is involved in recycling these TVs.
Tucked away off Hillside Rd in the heart of South Dunedin is a small team of people who spend their days elbow deep in old TVs.
The recycling crew at Cargill Enterprises has thousands of ''goggle boxes'' to process, stripping them down to their salvageable parts and removing the tubes.
Cargill's manager of recycling Shayne Perkins said the plastic casings were first removed and sent to the landfill.
The Government is funding an investigation into how the plastic can be recycled but it is a toxic type of fire-resistant plastic.
The wires are removed and sorted into different grades. Speakers are removed and recycled. Plastic moulding is broken off and dumped.
Circuit boards and general rubber waste is removed and put in recycling bins.
Cargill recycling worker Craig King said it took between 10 minutes and half an hour to dismantle a TV, depending on its size and the quality of the components.
TVs with wooden surrounds took the longest to take apart.
Mr King said it was obvious where the money spent on the better brands went because the quality of the components was much better and there was more steel in them.
The steel is also recycled.
There is about $2.50 worth of re-usable components in the average TV.
Mr Perkins said some TVs were ''very retro'' and some dating back to the 1960s.
Glass screens could weigh as much as 40kg on their own and were the ''icky part'' of the TV. Screens were sent overseas for processing, where they were either crushed and cleaned, or melted down.
Cargill Enterprises chief executive Geoff Kemp said they expected to process up to 4000 TVs.
Cargill Enterprises is the trading arm of the Disabled Citizens Society (Otago ) Inc. It employs more than 100 staff with disabilities.
