TVs Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

June 17, 2002

Do you own a television? If so, you may be surprised to learn that, depending on the size of the set, every TV contains between four and eight pounds of lead. As Matt Weiser points out in the July 2003 Sierra magazine, that lead does protect viewers from harmful X rays, but lead mining pollutes groundwater, poisons fish, and ravages landscapes — and that's even before it gets into your television set.

Massachusetts has recently classified televisions and computer monitors as hazardous waste, because in addition to all that lead, they contain other heavy metals and toxins (including mercury, barium and cadmium). Garbage collection services in Massachusetts will no longer take cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) as trash at curbside pick-up. But all those TVs and computer monitors have to go somewhere. According to the EPA, the number of personal computers alone being disposed of is expected to reach 60 million units a year within the next five years.

Over 275 Massachusetts communities have begun recycling initiatives designed to cut down on the number of CRTs that end up in landfills. Check out Mass.gov's CRT recycling pages for more information on disposing of your old television or monitor.

If you're ready to get rid of your television for good, groups like Adbusters and the TV-Turnoff Network can help. After all, heavy metals aren't the only annoying things about television! As Groucho Marx reportedly said, "I find television very educational. Every time someone switches it on, I go into another room and read a good book."