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Hi there,
as my first post, I'm resurrecting what is probably an old topic, but still intriguing to me. Each time a TV or something using a CRT is deposited on the curb, someone more or less carefully opens it, take a few cables and the electron tube part, along with the deflection coils. They appear to be working in a very systematic fashion which doesn't make it appear as pure vandalism. There are more interesting targets for vandalism, mirrors, glass, discarded sofas, etc.
Once, I could see from afar a guy doing just that. He used a a screwdriver to remove the back shell, took what he wanted, using pliers for the tube, then put the back shell back, in about 15 min. Some TVs aren't unscrewed, but the back is smashed precisely, the tube&yoke assembly taken. Many times, the cables aren't entirely taken, even large caliber ones, although they're fully made of copper.
Ok, I know there's a a good lot of copper inside, but copper is only worth $3.50 per pound at the moment, and somehow I doubt there's 500g worth of easily recovered copper in an average size TV.
Knowing there's no precious metal in that part of a TV, I wonder what these guys are looking for exactly. Even being optimistic and recovering a pound of copper per 15 min wouldn't return more than the minimum wage, for what is still a lot of travel, both in harsh winter weather and hot summers.
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It may not be worth it to you but it is to them. There was a empty house down the road from me that someone entered and stole all the copper pipe. Things like this happen a lot.
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Interesting. I wonder, is this widespread, or did you just happen to see a few guys who were after some specific parts?
I ask because just a couple weeks ago I took our last CRT to the local transfer/recycling station. I went to the shack where they get weight readouts and collect fees and asked the manager what the fee was and where to put the TV. The place wasn't busy, so he came out and the following conversation ensued:
Manager: No fee. Put it over there on a skid with the rest of them. We deal with them at the end of the day.
Me: What do you do with them?
Manager: See that big metal storage shed over there? It's stuffed with them.
Me: Wow. I thought there were companies that specialized in recycling old tube TVs.
Manager: Yeah, I guess. I'm not in charge of that, so I dunno. We're gonna need a new storage shed soon.
[EDIT] And welcome to the forum.Last edited by fritzi93; 29th Jun 2014 at 08:21.
Pull! Bang! Darn! -
Money is only worth as much as what you can buy with it. Making $8 to $10 an hour in some parts of the Third World surely is a treasure, but not in a developed country, especially for all the effort required to travel from TV to TV. I mean, you could make more money working at McDonald's, for much less effort. $8 won't even buy you a meal at McDonald, for what the reference is worth.
The strange thing, after I examined yet another broken TV, is they always take the yoke by breaking the tube (apparently a discouraged method), but left behind the HV transformer and large coils. -
When recycling first started to become popular, the recovered lead and leaded glass from old TVs could be used for making new CRTs. Today, there is little demand for it and since that stuff is hazardous waste, there is a backlog of millions of discarded TVs in storage awaiting recycling.Originally Posted by fritzi93
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In fact yes, it isn't just widespread, it's systematic. No CRT TV goes unbroken for more than 2 hours. At first it was limited to my rather poor neighborhood, but it has since widespread to all the city, save from some spots in affluent streets.
My first concern was that by breaking the yoke, one would release quantities of lead into the environment, much as is done with mercury when discarded fluorescent tubes are broken. -
So what the heck is so valuable in the yoke anyway? (He said, revealing his ignorance).
I should think a transformer or coils would be worth it to some people.Pull! Bang! Darn! -
Well yes, what's wrong with that? Is spending 15 min to break open an old CRT worth the $2 in copper one could find inside? Yet transformers and coils go untouched.
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Scavenging CRT deflection coils is more profitable than collecting beer cans, and less hazardous than stealing live wires.
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Makes sense. Only that you have to travel rather far to resell copper, while beer cans can be brought back at the nearest supermarket that sells them. But I get your point.
So, just copper would be interesting? Breaking the tube as a mean to remove the yoke, and not for the tube's content itself? -
Where I lived, they charged $20US at the disposal site for CRTs brought in. It didn't matter if it was 13" or 27". The downside is that lots of them ended up being dumped in road turnouts. Never saw many of them plundered of copper wiring, just vandalized. Some cities and counties dispose of them free to try to eliminate this.
I have also seen abandoned cars stripped of all copper wiring. A lot of work and the parents have the kids do it. Unfortunately they also burn the copper wire in a barrel to get rid of the plastic insulation, polluting the air, before taking the wire to the scrap dealers. Where I'm at now, they also steal underground copper wire from street lights. A few fatalities with that, and I have no idea where they could sell the wire.
But this topic isn't video related; better in Off Topic. Moving.
Moderator redwudz -
Most yokes are made with copper wire. It's much easier to rip a yoke off the picture tube than to mess with the other parts. They could take the whole tv but then they're stuck trying get rid of it after they take the tv apart. In the town where I live it cost $3.00 for a table top tv and $4.50 to get rid of a floor model. Tv's aren't the only things they look for. They look for any metal they can sell for scrap.Originally Posted by fritzi93
So what the heck is so valuable in the yoke anyway? (He said, revealing his ignorance).
I should think a transformer or coils would be worth it to some people. -
Assuming they want the copper, it brings back so few $ that they can't afford a motorized vehicle to move a whole TV. Plus, most people discarding TVs or any heavy electronic for that matter, do not take the pain to bring it back to the disposal site, even if ours doesn't charge anything to resident, only contractors (for now). They still put a limit on how much you can bring in a year. Being non-motorized doesn't help, but there's no constraint. Anybody can leave anything on the curb for days.
There are other scrappers that take only steel, and they have trucks. It's not difficult to find discarded steel when you can move fast enough, and you usually get a truckload in one run. Probably much more than you could make from copper from old TVs. Interestingly enough, no one ever tried to steal large gauge cables from poles. -
"Anybody can leave anything on the curb for days." That may be true in some areas. The town I live in has ordinances for waste disposal that they do enforce. They have a person that goes around checking that the trash and recycles are put out correctly. Trash has to be separated from recyclable materials and properly stickered. We have to pay by buying trash stickers to have our trash picked up. As for leaving stuff out at the curb for days, They will leave a notice for the resident to clean it up or they will be fined.
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Not invented here.
Anybody can get rid of almost anything on the curb. There are few building inspectors, who are already very busy with all slumlords blossoming here and there, and if people feel concerned they may get caught for "something" (since there is no widely known rule on trash disposal), they simply come out at night, and return to their apartment. There's no way an inspector could leave a notice to a specific resident.
Officially, there's a given day for ordinary trash, another for compostable material (if borough supports it), another for recyclable materials, and another for large items where a resident must call to schedule a pick-up. In practice, only regular garbage days are followed. However, there are no fixed schedule for dangerous waste, such as paint, solvents and electronics, people are just told to bring them to the disposal site, but very few actually do. -
I'm not going to argue about trash and recycles. I don't know or care what they do where you live. I know what they do in the town I live in.
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Where have you seen anyone arguing? This was and still is merely a question on the purpose of breaking CRTs tubes, apparently for one or two dollars worth of copper.
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Why would anyone pay to get rid of a TV when there are so many unattended dumpsters all over the place???
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I am shocked — shocked— to find that valuable CRTs are left on the curbs!
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