Right ... It's time for the spring clean, which means getting rid of the old TV's, stereos, computers, and stuff up in the roof that hasn't been used in years.

Rather than popping it all in the wheely bin, and it's old so probably won't sell on e-bay, where is the best place to environmentally get rid of this stuff?

Its council kerbside collection week this week around our way.

I put out an old but perfectly functional TV and VCR and within an hour or so someone had crawled past, punched their way through the plastic casing and pulled out some bits (presumably something somewhere had some copper wire coils).

Looking around our streets it seems every other house had put out and old TV and the scavengers had attacked them all leaving a mess of broken plastic bits and pieces in their wake.


Thankfully the council truck came yesterday and took all the remaining debris away so the kerbside looks normal again


(Of course this service may only be offered in Brisbane - so if you're elsewhere I have no idea what to do with old junk like TVs)

Hey Dad - mind the pun

That's interesting that they broke through the casings and ripped out the internals - must be something of value in there.

I've popped TV's on gumtree before in the "free stuff" section. Not a sniff. you'd think that some student somewhere would be after a free TV.

Local Salvos? They seem to be quite popular here around Adelaide and i went to about 6 different ones in 2 days looking for bits of furniture etc.

CRT TVs can't be given away, they basically have to be scrapped.

Stereos can sometimes find a home, depending on quality and what's included.

Computers, if they aren't too ancient and are working, can often be tidied up and shipped off to Africa.

Your best bet for eWaste is your local council, they should be doing something, and it should be free. As for others, remember that this is Australia, and therefore they are generally off their heads and actually try to charge for eWaste collection.

Could also try http://au.ziilch.com/

Nice website Garry. Not seen that before.

I'm all over this organ - http://au.ziilch.com/listing/12928/H...c_Organ__Stool

Just had council cleanup here in Sydney- we put out a load of old cables, monitors, stereos, transformers etc. I had 2 utes come round and take all the cables and the heavy old boxes for the stereos to recycle. Another one came in the night and took more bits, leaving a mess, so OH tidied it up first thing, and the council took everything else. The neighbour had put a tv onto my pile- he did ask.
The crims have stripped out all the copper plumbing pipes from the local loos at the sports field. Metal is in high demand.

Now I have a pine wardrobe to get rid of. Might ask the salvoes if they want it.

Look up Waste Transfer Stations on your local council website. It will tell you which tips accept which rubbish. Usually they have separate sections for non-ferrous metals, mobile phones, fridges etc.

Our council has periodic (3 months? 6?) e-waste days. Check your local council's website.
Thing is, students often don't bother with TVs at all - everyone's got a laptop you can watch most shows on anyway. You walk down a suburban street on bins day and there's usually 1-2 TVs lying there!