North West England Sees Huge Increase in the Dumping of Analogue TVs

It now seems that, due to the major digital TV switchover, North West England has seen a very large increase in the number of dumped analogue TVs. This report comes in from a number of environmental campaigners that are concerned over the amount of TVs that were recently just thrown away.

Some figures from the Cumbbria County Council, which administers around half a million people, show that the number of TVs dumped at waste and recycling sties has increase by 70 percent in the past year. This year, the council said that 50,000 TVs were recycled after being thrown out by households. 30,000 of these could have been upgraded to receive digital TV signals with a simple £20 set-top box.

An investigator who is studying the environmental impact of the digital switchover, Simon Birch, said that Digital UK is currently failing to tell the public of the environmental cost of throwing away a TV. Most people do not even know that the existing TVs that they own can be upgraded to get digital TV by adding on a simple adapter that sits on top of the TV itself. Not only will this save the person money from having to buy a new TV, but it also helps out the environmental.

A spokesperson for Digital UK said that viewers do not need to buy a new TV for the switchover. He went on to say that virtually any set, even old black and white models, can be converted to using the digital set top box. However, they also understand that some viewers may use this switchover as an opportunity to upgrade their old TV sets.