TVs (televisions) have remained one of the most important devices, despite being around for nearly a century. We watch movies, sports, play games on them and with a good sound system, even listen to music through them.

However, the fact that we are still so attached to this entertainment device means that we also feel the urge to upgrade it when new technologies emerge. And in recent years, many imaging tech appeared on the market, from OLED and Mini LED models, to rollable TVs that you can hide when not in use.

Before enjoying your shiny new TV, make sure to send the old model in for recycling, if you don't plan to pass it down in the family or find an alternative use for it, more on this later.

In Romania there are companies that collect and recycle many electronic devices and household appliances, including TVs, such as Environ and GreenWEEE, so make sure to find your local collector or recycler and let them handle the precious components inside your old TV.

Recycling TVs is not a streamlined process anymore, since there are many displaying technologies out on the market. Back when CRT and LCDs were pretty much the only option, it was easier to process an old TV, but now you have OLED, LED, Mini LED and many more.

Let's take a look at some of the most popular types of TVs that resided in our living rooms over the years.

The old school, but well-known, CRT (cathode ray tube) TV used to be the standard for many years. On the inside, the screen was coated with small phosphor dots that emitted light in three primary colors (red, green and blue).

One of the more modern and fairly popular technologies is Mini LED, which derives from traditional LED and uses small LEDs linked together for backlight. Compared to a traditional LED screen, this offers better contrast and brightness, while being less expensive and more durable than OLEDs.

Speaking of which, OLED is another display technology that is very popular these days in high-end TVs and uses an organic light-emitting diode to show images. This has multiple advantages, such as infinite contrast, better color reproduction and allows to make the slimmest TVs yet on the market.

How are TVs recycled

Back to recycling, however, the process isn't too different for these devices and its mostly the display that needs special attention in some cases.

Between CRTs and flatscreen TVs, which are the only kind available on the market now, the recycling process is slightly different, specifically because of the display tech. CRTs are larger and heavier and thus, need more careful handling. Their displays also contain toxic chemicals, such as lead and cadmium-based phosphorus, which recyclers can separate and process separately, but damaging a CRT can be very harmful to the local environment.

For flatscreens, the situation is not as grave, as they don't contain toxic chemicals withing their displays, meaning that if you damage them before recycling, there shouldn't be much of a safety hazard.

Next comes the casing, which in all cases is mostly made from plastic. This means that both CRTs and flatscreen TVs have substantial amounts of plastics that can be grinded or melted and reused in new products, which you can learn more about from this previous article about how plastic is recycled.

Not so much the case for CRTs, but newer flatscreen TVs make use of many microchips, especially models from the past couple of years that have smart features, as well. These microchips contain many of the same materials found within our smartphones, such as CPUs and memory, which can be recycled and repurposed in new electronics. You can also learn more about this from this article on how smartphones are recycled.

Typically, these circuit boards can contain plastic and different types of metal, such as copper and gold.

Then come the cables, which are connected to the screen and speaker, among other components and these will be disassembled and processed individually by recycling companies, meaning that pretty much every bit of an old TV can be recycled.

Alternatives to recycling your TV

As many people, you've probably done it, too. You get a shiny, brand-new TV and give your old model away to family or even sell it to recover some of the initial investment. But with new models, which have better imaging technologies than ever before, it's not a bad idea to reuse your old TV as a monitor for your laptop or computer.

The display is large, it is likely to deliver a great image, especially if you purchased it in the past 4-5 years and it even has serviceable internal speakers that can offer a satisfactory sound profile.

An old OLED or Mini LED TV can make for an amazing monitor for your PC and if it supports a high refresh rate, it can even be great for gaming, so as you can see, there are plenty of use-cases for an old TV.

However, if the TV is very old or broken down and you can't repair or reuse it, then the most sensible option is indeed recycling it. Considering how many valuable materials are found inside a TV and the larger dimensions of the device, sending it to reprocessing once you don't need it should be the default option in a sustainable and circular world.