Tomorrow and Saturday from 10-4 p.m., Reunion Arena will become the dump site for old TV sets and computers. The city is holding the "e-cycle" event to prevent them from going to landfills and illegal dump sites.

Of course, the digital TV transition is coming up on Feb. 17, so lots of people are planning to get rid of their old TV sets. I spoke recently with Jeff Jacoby of Texas Campaign for the Environment‘s Dallas office, and he told me that each non-recycled television would amount to 4 to 12 pounds of lead, "so we’re looking at a potential public health catastrophe."
Jacoby and others recently traveled to Las Vegas to interrupt he Consumer Electronics Show in an attempt to try to convince the creators of these products to "take responsibility of the end-life care." He encouraged owners of non-digital TVs to call the manufacturer and ask about their recycling programs; some have them (such as Sony, LG, Zenith and Samsung) but many others don’t, and Jacoby believes the phone calls would send a message to these companies, and encourage them to start creating products that they can later recycle.

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Jacoby also had high praise for the city’s recycling events, which will take place at Reunion Arena this weekend but will continue through March 31 at four Dallas drop-off locations (including one in our neighborhood):

Southwest (Oak Cliff) Transfer Station
Sunday, Wednesday or Saturday
7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
4610 S. Westmoreland Road
(214) 670-1927

Northwest (Bachman) Transfer Station
Sunday – Saturday 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
9500 Harry Hines Blvd
214-670-6150 or 214-243-2670 weekends

Customer Convenience Recycling Center at
McCommas Bluff Landfill
Monday – Saturday 5 a.m. – 8 p.m.
5100 Youngblood Road
214-670-0977

Northeast (Fair Oaks) Transfer Station
Sunday, Wednesday or Saturday
7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
7677 Fair Oaks Avenue
(214) 670-6126