Recyclers Expect TV Increase Over Weekend

Despite a four-month delay, the digital television switch is in full effect. Electronics recyclers around the country are now gearing up for more TVs than usual over the next few days as consumers replace their analog sets with digital models.

While analog televisions are still usable if consumers subscribe to cable or purchase a digital converter box, many consumers are choosing to upgrade and dispose of an old set. A recycling center in Houston is seeing 100 sets brought in per day, with long lines of cars.

According to DTV.gov, consumers who rely on antennas (including outside antennas and "rabbit ears") to receive over-the-air broadcast signals on TV sets having only analog tuners will need to obtain separate digital-to-analog set-top converter boxes to watch over-the-air TV. Photo: Notebookreview.com

“We’ve never seen anything like it,” says Marina Joseph, a spokesperson for Houston’s Sold Waste Management Department. ”They don’t have to do this, but we’d rather they bring them here than on the side of the road.”

Cincinnati’s 2TRG has already collected more than 870 sets this year and is anticipating a busy weekend. “I bet we’re going to get slammed on Saturday,” says 2TRG President Elli Workum.

The switch was supposed to happen in February, but the Senate voted to delay it until June 12 because consumers were not prepared, and the budget to subsidize the cost of converter boxes had already been reached in January.

While this meant the deadline for a digital switch was delayed, communities were free to switch whenever they felt prepared. Wilmington, N.C. was the first city to switch back in September, and DTV.gov claims that one third of all stations had switched by the original February 17 deadline, with 42 percent now transitioned.

The Web site adds that more than 12 million homes receive television service over the air. There have been no estimates released on what percentage of analog sets are expected to be disposed.