Don't Toss That Old TV Set -- Recycle It

ATLANTA -- Maybe you got a new television, or computer, or video player over the holidays. Maybe you didn't. But the odds are that sometime soon you will.

And when you do, you will be faced with the question that millions are asking every day: what do you do with the old electronics.

As 2009 approaches, the phrase: "out with the old, in with the new" carries several meanings. Even during scary economic times people are still buying the latest electronic gadgets. Of course, then they're left with their old electronic gadgets.

"People want to do the right thing," said Dave Loxom of Atlanta Recycling Solutions. "But they just need to understand what to do, how to do it, and where to do it."

Atlanta Recycling Solutions in Alpharetta is the answer to the question. Dave Loxom and his staff will take it all.

"We will take anything with a circuit board in it," Loxom said. "So, computer, monitor, TV, printer, copier, fax machines. VCRs are big because you know nobody uses them right now."

The old electronics are the ore -- the materials in them, the gold.

"Most of the stuff gets torn down and recycled," Loxom said. "The plastic goes back to plastic, steel to steel, copper to copper and so on."

But the current economy has taken some of the sparkle off those recyclables.

"China buys a huge amount of recycled material to put into the manufacture of the electronic items that we buy from them. Well, we're not buying as many electronic items from China as we used to. So they're not buying as much of the recycled materials from us," he said.

Check with your community recycling center to see which electronics items it is taking. So go ahead and buy that fancy electronics gadget with parts made in China. It'll make you feel good, and you'll be helping the recycling markets.