Green Century Electronics Recycling

Entrance

Jack wanted a flat panel display for his seismograph, so we drove downtown to this computer recycling place.

They have a small showroom where they have used/refubished computers for sale. I saw one that looked kind of like mine, but newer, for $50. Jack picked up a display for $30. Complete computer systems run $150.

They also have sizable warehouse full of old computers and CRT's (Cathode Ray Tube). Can you believe it? Nobody wants a CRT any more. Twenty years ago we would have killed for a 17" CRT. Now you have to pay to get rid of them. These guys load them on pallets and ship them to a processor where they take them apart. Plastic cases go in one pile, steel bits in another, electronics in another. The deflection coils, which are made of copper wire are pulled off, and the tube itself is pulverized. The electronics and the tube contain lead and so require special treatment. The copper wire is the only thing of value.



Can you imagine how much work it is going to take to get rid of all the old CRT's? There must be millions of them in the country, and everyone is replacing them as fast as they can.

I have a 36" CRT TV that I bought five or ten years ago, at the very tale end of the CRT age. It's in a cabinet built into the wall. At the time, we really liked it. It was a big improvement over our 20 inch. It hasn't been turned on for at least a year. I think it will probably just stay there. It weighs 300 pounds, no one wants to put in the effort to move it. I think if we ever need a TV in that room again, we will just hang a flat panel on the wall in front of it.