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Been a long time since I messed around with CRTs. Thinking of getting into taking them. I have prices from a company that will take them. Got prices for both whole tvs and bare CRT tubes. Bare tubes are 8 cents a pound more. I'm trying to figure out if it is worth it to break down. My gut is telling me it is a loser. Has anyone broken some down recently and bothered to weigh the various components?
That's exciting that you found a place that buys them. What price are they offering whole?
You might even be able to make some money picking them up if people have limited options. Charge $10 to take one, strip it and stockpile the copper. Then sell the tubes. But getting paid to take them would make the time for stripping them more worthwhile.
I need to clarify this!Quote:
Originally Posted by HipoGear
It will cost me $0.20 per pound to get rid of whole tvs. This doesn't include my time or costs to deliver.
They want $0.28 per pound for bare tubes. These need to be in gaylords, so an additional cost.
There are fewer and fewer places to get rid of CRTs, so if I set my prices (charging people) right, I may have some decent money left over after paying the company taking them.
Nobody buys CRTs.
Used to be about 5 bucks in a tube tv. Copper, wire, alum, etc included in that.
Been awhile since I've messed with any in a large amount. Guessing, an based on my experience with them your looking at 3 to 5 a tv. Assuming you pull all the copper an wire. This also assumes you get copper an not alum wire. If you don't have a low grade/brown board buyer, strip the boards of their alum heat sinks and any thing else that looks good. Projection tvs can yield all the above an DPL, DLP feh..whatever their called chips. Stay away from the cabinet/console tvs. Mostly wood an not worth the hassle of moving the sons of *****es.
I say 3 to 5 because as always...YMMV. Your market is different from mine, nor do I have any clue what your yards pay. I'd plan for the lower end of the price spectrum. Your alum and copper prices could be higher then mine. Is it worth it? Only you can decide that. If you have other things you can make more off of, I'd stick to that. If you need busy work an got the time, grab those tv's. Not many people mess with them. An there can be some good stuff in them as they all vary for the most part.
I've done quite a few tvs an got my start with them. Their still a pain in the ass but they do help when your in a down period with other items.
Good luck, an do some an find out if it's worth it for you. Let us know your results if you decide to do a test run. I for one would be interested in the results.
Sirscrapalot - Some people just need a hi-five. ( To the face, with a chair.) - The Internet
Eh, on rereading your post again I see you plan to charge for removal.
Feel free to ignore my prior post in that case. I'd delete it but, maybe someone will find it useful.
I got no clue on what you can charge someone to remove it. I usually only charged for consoles cause of all the wood an weight. Plus I had a way to dispose of the tubes at no cost to me so that's a fee I didn't have to factor in to my bottom line.
Good luck!
Sirscrapalot - You already got one 1 quote in this thread, don't be greedy! - Me.
I found that it took 66 Aluminium heatsinks from CRT's to make a Kg of aluminium. YMMV
'Extrusion Aluminium' pays more than 'Domestic Aluminium' by about 40%
CRT tubes will explode if handled wrong, one single instance of this can be life ending, income ending or life changing. Do not underestimate the vacuum in a CRT tube.
I would put the TV face down on something soft like as couple of layers of carpet, remove the back of the case and cover the TV with heavy cloth and then thru it, grab the board on the end of the tube and wiggle it like its a cars steering wheel. Until it cracked and let air into it.
After that, its as safe as a very sharp oddley balanced 50lbs of smooth solid/sheet glass can be.
I tried to lever the band from around the screen off, while it still had vacuum in it.
Bad Bad Idea....
It exploded making a 12 foot diameter circle of sharp shards of glass about 1 inch to 8 inches long.
How it missed me, I have no idea. A true miracle really.
As they can go to the trash around here I now pick up a few from alleys before someone smashes them all over. When goodwill was taking them that's where I would take the ones I broke down. Now that no one wants them even the places that used to charge you $5 - $10 dollars each, the city lets them go to the landfill...
I wanted to throw one thing in about console (i.e., wood casing) TV's. I've been following some vintage electronics collectors' groups and it seems like there may be a small but dedicated market for some of these things. Of course, older is better and "American" brands seem to have preference. In this case, the fact that no one wants them for donation or recycling has been a boon for the sellers, as they effectively have no competition (you can't just swing into Goodwill and buy one for a quarter of what they want for the same thing on eBay). As always, shipping can be a bear but if you live in an area where there are enough of these collectors, they don't appear to mind coming to you. I believe I saw one sell for $200 but I may be mistaken; it was a three-digit figure, though.
I don't get many and our population density is low so my own pool for these is limited. Thus, I may try this, even though it's unlikely to yield anything valuable except maybe a one-off cash boost. But if you could get your hands on a couple, you could try this out and see if it might provide some balancing revenue for the costs of processing some other units. It's picking the bones but, hey, if you might get into it, anyway, how would it hurt?
So a scrapper out here just had an ad offering to haul away tvs / appliances. she says shes breaking the glass and recycling the glass. I called bull$ hit I'm assuming its still haz mat type stuff..
It is. All CRTs have the lead on the inside of the tube. Inhaling will cause escalating damage to your lungs the more you breathe it in. I break the tip of the tube to re-pressurize the set, but leave the rest un-smashed. I just take what I want, and can't be bothered with the rest over my own personal safety.
The Lead is inside the glass itself, it's not seperate.
There is a silvery metallic flakey stuff on the inside of the front of the screen & it's got a bunch of chemicals n it, can't remember but Google it for proper info. Yitterium or somesuch. So don't go breathing it in.
If you can sell onwards the screen, even if it costs you, that would be helpful if you are also getting paid to receive them.
My CRT days finished a few years ago when I helped clean out a scrap/CRT recyclers yard when his receiver went into receivership (lol ). The Government propped up the system afterwards & paid some company to dispose of the CRT's.
The guy I helped got access back to some of his yard & the CRTs piled up on pallets properly. I got several sacks of degaussing cable, computers, & as much escrap as I could get. He got NZ$100 for the sheet metal etc I'd spent more time than it was worth doing.... But it was part of my job, of rearranging everything tidy like anyway.
( & He didn't do what I told him to do, "Take it too S*** Scrap, because they are not going to rip you off"..
He took it too "Sideshow Rob's scummy scrappers "A good deals A good deal for us" " never knew what he got paid per Kg, or it's weight either.
Flat screens?
Well, a flatscreen with the screen intact can be fixed. If you can get 100's of them, you have potential.
Even that's probably changed a bit now. 'Capactor Rot' may not be a problem with flatscreens now. The prices have dropped even more.
It was a thing,. https://www.badcaps.net/index.php to fix them up.
Or pack them in a shipping container & sell them back to China or India.
The yoke is your main copper source - the rest is mainly junk boards and some small wires. In the state of Pennsylvania, CRTs are classes as hazardous waste.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWgujXk6dHw
Copper isn't the only thing.
But who am I to argue with such thoughts?
I wish it was more profitable to deal with CRTs, as I know of a great source of them here by me, but alas...I lack the time, an mainly the desire to deal with them an the issues with them.
Sirscrapalot - Never assume, especially in this industry. Not everything is the same on the inside.
Could you enlighten us SIR SCRAPPY.....I do remember an artist here that wanted the diff color glass around the yokes but it was very hard to harvest....I get alot of aluminum out of the more professional grade monitors
I did some poking around - only way to actually make money is charging folks to dispose of the CRTs, and/or live in a state that will pay you for the service.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
In my opinion, there no way in ### anyone can make positive cash flow from CRTs ... the cost of legally disposing of the glass is more than the scrap value of the metals !
As most of this statement I agree with you can make some money if you gather say a truckload charge the people to take the TV's then ship them to a approved recycler here in the US for a smaller charge then you are collecting and make some money. Granted you have to take into account storage space and other costs but it could give you a positive cash flow But that is my opinionQuote:
Originally Posted by RLS0812
that is true. if your just a small time guy you could also hunt out yards that take them at a charge and charge people that want them gone. rag and bone in Easton charges $30 I believe to drop them off. I could pick them up for around $50 each if I didn't break everyone that would ever enter the vicinity of my truck. It gets way too messy back there for me to mess with them though. I would need a dedicated Tv hauler to keep them in tact.Quote:
Originally Posted by gorven
The Coppers mostly in the degaussing cable around the outer edge of the screen, and the yoke around the rear of the tube.
There's a little on the board in coils, maybe some Copper heatsinks, most have a tiny 'Paint drop Tanti ' capactor on the board too. I get the IC chips & quartz crystals & any other 'timing/delay' component.
The Ali heatsinks as well as cutting out all of the wire.
Trinatron CRT TVs have the best degaussing cables. Cut the double layers of tape off the coil, then cut about a inch down the single layer of tape insulation. Then pull out about 3 strands & use this to cut thru the tape right around the coil untill it all falls off.
The yoke coil. If it's got red rubbery silicon stuck to the yoke coils. Put them in the freezer for a day or two & it turns brittle & smashes off ( a bit messy, but quick )
I don't do many CRTs now,
I might get one a month given to me (dumped) & since I can take my time & also get rid of the waste in my rubbish bin for free.
It's really just a service for the odd person ( lol ) that I know, who knows that I did scrap them.
The glass in the TV that the glass blowers want is the coloured strips down the side of the gun in the rear of the tube. It holds all of the little metal bits in place. It's made of glass that does not expand much.
White, green & brown are the most common colours.
I don't think they will pay much for it but if you find someone who will buy it, there's a few $$ in it for you. The people that make handmade smoking 'vases' vessels are your target customer. Just asking at one of the shops that sell them will get you a answer & maybe a contact for a buyer.
Other colours I have seen are red, yellow & pink.
Have we all heard about the latest situation in CRT's?
The link: https://resource-recycling.com/e-scr...crt-suppliers/
I noticed at least one company that was a buyer here. Not sure if their thread is still up.Quote:
Originally Posted by Breakage
Looks like most of it has been cleaned up.
https://azdeq.gov/closed-loop-refini...ous-waste-site
I know this is an old post but I make some $$ off every CRT and Monitor. First, I will only take them if free. I will then scrap them out and take them to the transfer station. They let you drop off four for free. If no one is around I always has an extra one or two I toss in. I am only up to about 50 sets right now but I have only been doing this for a couple of months. I hunt down old computers and motors for the most $$.Quote:
Originally Posted by RLS0812
The process I'm trying to get approval for is the separation of the leaded glass from the remaining unleaded glass. Since the CRT processor I'm looking to send material to is 4 states over, I need to find a way to reduce freight costs as much as possible. Since there's no recycling options here in Montana I have to try and get approval from the state to implement this. It's just annoying since CRT's currently just go to the landfill as regular garbage. Anything for recycling them is better than nothing. I can charge for disposal, but I just get the feeling that very few people would pay for disposal with a significant amount leaving little "surprises" outside my door for free leaving me with a mountain of CRT's to dispose of at a major loss.
The only unknown is what the line between non-hazardous/hazardous disposal on CRT's is. I'm hoping to dance around the hazardous waste licensing without having to get it since it's $40k/year here. I tried contacting the EPA and their answer was below:
"we don't approve/disapprove of processing methods. Read the below links (all of which were password protected) on what hazardous waste is and go from there".
Pretty much what I took away from it was the EPA won't tell you if a process is in violation until they decide to swoop in and slap you with a hefty fine. Such is government bureaucracy I suppose. Hopefully I get better answers from the state DEQ.
I've seen some CRT processing videos on youtube. One of the significant concerns would be the phosphorus inside the tube ... if you opened it up in some way. Don't know as i would want to be working around that stuff everyday. It's quite toxic to humans. I've seen them vacuum it out but then that creates it's own set of problems. How do you dispose of the phosphorus the right way ? There's always some dust that blows through the vacuum and gets up into the air in the shop.
Honestly ... i think i would just ship the complete CRT's off to somebody that is set up to deal with them properly. Let them deal with the toxic nasties and legal liabilities that go with handling that stuff.
Just make sure that they are properly accredited so that it doesn't blow back on you later on ... if they do something irresponsible.
Another thing to consider is the federal EPA. The state epa's can be reasonable to deal with. The federal EPA not so much. Where the tubes are going interstate ... it's definitely a federal matter.
Here's a little insight into the rulemaking of the feds.
https://www.epa.gov/hw/cathode-ray-tubes-crts-0
It seems we live in a complicated world. :(
Don't take this the wrong way but you don't seem to ever think outside the box.......I know you are older and this is not how you make a living but some of us do........You always suggest the easy way out and want to just pawn stuff off onto municipalities or 3rd world countries...........I know from your posts that you cherry pick a little ewaste at this point but some of us actually need this type of material to continue to grow..........Hopefully one day I will make it to your point in life and will be able to kick back and tinker with some stuff but right now I can't turn down anything as bills just get larger each and every monthQuote:
Originally Posted by hills
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
If you need TVs to be able to grow, oh boy I could get many tons of them. I never touch them because to dispose of the actual waste legally (in my state, obviously your state may be different) is a huge expense/pain. There are many way to dispose of them illegally or at the very least in a gray-area of legality, but for me, who is not doing this as primary income, it isn't worth the hassle. This is the same reason I don't take anything with refrigerant. I know (or have seen) scrappers who assumedly do scrapping full time, who will just poke a hole in an AC or fridge and let all the freon just leak out. That is illegal, and bad for the environment, but hey if you gotta eat and put a roof over your head, I can see why many would do that.
I definitely respect anyone who is doing this full time. The complicated legal hoops are not only hard to decipher to determine what you need to do to operate legally, but also cost a ton of money. It is set up so only big business can legally run these types of things and they are designed to keep competition and little guys from getting in, all under the guise of environmental protection. I looked into getting R2 certified, but you need a warehouse or commercially zoned space, thousands in inspections, and tons of other stuff. Someone said it can cost over $100k to get certified, and is a few thousand each year to keep certified. I imagine whatever it takes to be able to do tvs legally is similar (or could even be r2? does r2 cover tvs?)..... it just isn't feasible, so people keep doing it just under the radar.
It's all good Mike. I appreciate the honesty and i'm not personally offended. What you're saying is true.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
It was a different line of work, but i did run my own business for sixteen years. I know what it's like. Being out there on your own puts you through the changes. It makes you expedient.
One of my mentors, a successful businessman and Master Tradesman once told me " Some jobs are just not worth doing. " I think we might have been talking about a difficult construction project with a particularly difficult customer at the time. All things considered .... that particular project was going to present so many difficulties ... that it wasn't going to be worth doing.
You only have so much time and energy in a day. These are the resources that you have to work with, so you have to use them to their best advantage. The pressure is on you to perform. Choose your jobs wisely and you might survive and prosper. Choose unwisely, and you will have more money going out than you have coming in.
If you find yourself "doing more of the same harder" and the bills are getting larger and larger every month .... you need to start thinking outside the box. Perhaps it's time for a change.
That was somewhat the case with me. The recession of 07-08 hit the construction industry hard. I survived the crash but it was a constant struggle to make ends meet for the next ten years. There just wasn't enough profitable work around to keep me going. I finally said to myself: " I'm going to go broke if i keep doing what i'm doing".
Making the choice to return to the workforce was a difficult transition but i'm back to being profitable again. I'm still very careful in the way i manage my time and energy these days. It's a carryover from lessons learned in the past.
Besides .... I'm Really Really Really Old ! My days are numbered and i know it ! If the prospect of my impending doom doesn't make me expedient then nothing will. ;)
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Later edited to add:
I got to thinking it over and instead of finding reasons why it's not to a good idea to mess with CRT's .... go at it in a different way and see if there's a means to make this more profitable for you.
Maine is vastly different from Tennessee & Montana. These places are worlds apart in the way they do things. The State of Maine is quite progressive to the point that we're right out there on the bleeding edge of recycling.
We've all but achieved herd immunity with some communities being 99 % vaccinated and we currently have a first in the nation recycling bill pending in the state legislature. It would better not to venture into politics here but the progressives ( socialists ) tend to get the government into cahoots with private businesses. It creates possibilities for capitalistic opportunists like ourselves find the exploits and turn an otherwise unprofitable venture into a cash cow.
If you could figure out how our Ewaste system works ... it might spark an idea that you could use where you are. I believe ours works ... i just don't know exactly how. They don't talk about it much.:-/
Good advice you have given here better than just say shipping off and letting someone else deal with it.....pretty lax here and CRT's are dwindling and you see them going into the landfill (unfortunate but true).....at this point pretty standard practice to strip copper/board and landfill the rest.....I know it doesn't solve a problem but humans created this problem when they invented an an inferior device.....I'm 44 years old and it will be my grand kids problem not mine....hate to be this way but what I take in is very little compared to some of the recyclers listed in the links above....old trucks are killing me and about to just bite the bullet and get a new one...will survive and adapt
To respond to what you added above would be interesting to track where a CRT actually goes in your states recycling program....so many people thought they were doing the right thing over the years only to find out that what they put in a recycle bin ended up in a third world country
And as far as anyone thinking landfill is a bad option obviously it is but at least it is better contained than being burned on the shores of a devoloping nation....in my opinion there are much worse things in landfills than a CRT.......From what I have seen incineration may be an answer but I don't know enough about side effects/cost to fully endorse
I hear you. That's why i'm steadfastly opposed to the new recycling bill that we have pending in the state legislature. I don't believe that they are performing due diligence on the programs that we already have in place.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
Yeah ... truck expense is a killer. Initial cost, repair, and fuel were my biggest operating expenses and that was four years ago. New work trucks here in Maine are running 50 - 70 grand. Even a 15 year old truck goes for over ten grand. You have to be generating a lot of money in gross sales to be able to afford to run a pickup truck these days.
Otherwise ... it's a slow slipping down life where you eventually go broke. I could see it coming, so i shuttered my business to save my financial hide before it was too late. That was a hard and painful decision that took about a year to come around to.
I think the landfill is the most expedient choice. I just didn't want to suggest it till now.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco