Six weeks ago, my TV broke. Something crackled and popped inside of it; the screen went black. I immediately unplugged it and stared dumbfoundedly at it. This TV set was in my possession for only 3 years! Why did it break? And what was I supposed to do about procuring a new one?
Ten days later, Alex and I headed to Sears to buy a new TV. We picked out a nice 40″ LCD TV (compared to the previous 32″ set) for a decent price. We took it home, looked up reviews online, and — deciding that it was actually a pretty good TV after all — unpacked it and set it up. It’s been a month that we’ve had it in our possession.
However, it’s been six weeks that my old TV has been sitting in my apartment, collecting more dust by the day. Up until today, I didn’t know what to do with it. I know that I could have thrown it out with the regular trash but … I didn’t want to do that. I don’t want to add the growing tonnage of e-waste. So, finally, I looked up electronics recycling on NYC’s 311 website. (311 is New York City’s phone number for government information and non-emergency services.) As it turns out, there are a bunch of electronics recycling options for NYC residents!
Because Vizio is not one of the companies participating in the manufacturer take-back program, my only option is to bring the TV to one of the stores that participates in the retailer take-back program. It looks like I’ll be hauling the TV to my local Best Buy! I have a car and I have a boy, so it should not take us too long to bring it to the store.
And I have more respect for Best Buy now. Guess where I’ll be buying my gadgets from now on?
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