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With the exception of the CRT tube, most of the rest of the material can be recycled easily; toxic material needs decontamination

The kinescope, better known as a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor, is a technology that is losing ground in the computer industry. Its replacements present immense improvement in image quality and do not have such a large amount of heavy metals in their composition. The trends are exciting, but what to do with the old "clutters" when you want to buy an LCD?

opening a monitor

To avoid attitudes with serious consequences for the environment and for human beings – such as disposing of the CRT monitor in dumps or landfills, it is necessary to know what it is made of. Follow the table below:

Composition CRT Monitors

According to the data, a CRT monitor has nearly 58% of its weight spent exclusively on the cathode ray tube. “The amount of lead inside the tube is 20% of its weight. Since a monitor weighs around 13 kg, we have 2-3 kg of lead, depending on the size and age of the monitor. The older and heavier, the greater the quantity”, explains Neuci Bicov, specialist in environmental management at the Center for Disposal and Reuse of Computer Waste (Cedir) of the University of São Paulo (USP).

Lead is a heavy metal that can cause genetic changes, attack the nervous system, bone marrow and kidneys, in addition to causing cancer. Two other toxic elements are also present in the CRT monitor: cadmium and mercury (learn more about the damage they do to your health). Depending on the model, it is possible that other toxic components are part of the product.

The danger of the CRT monitor is what happens when someone throws it in a dump or landfill, it suffers the consequences of the increase in the temperature of the place and the glass tends to break, releasing the lead directly into the ground, which can affect the population the surroundings (if there is a water table nearby) and the health of the garbage collectors.

Recycling

At Cedir, of the 120 tons of electronics collected since 2009, 40 tons of them were just CRT monitors. “Not all manufacturers accept their own old products. Some started to get it back after a lot of insistence”, says Neuci.

The disposal center accumulates the donations and sends them to a specialized recycling company associated with the university. However, Cedir pays for the procedure. “The average price for decontaminating a monitor is between R$0.25 and R$0.56 per kilo, depending on the company. Some companies even receive small quantities, as the price is by weight, but the consumer would have to schedule and take the equipment to them, and still pay for it” comments the environmental manager.

Most of the material (brown plate, coil, iron, aluminum, plastic, wiring) goes to direct recycling. “The tube is opened by a special machine in a sealed environment, separating the clean front glass, which goes directly to the glass recycler, as it does not need treatment; and the glass in the tube (with lead) is ground to be added, in parts, to glass that requires light refraction (shine), such as crystal, for example”, explains Neuci.

You could see that the recycling of monitors is not easy and the consumer has few alternatives. The situation tends to improve with the enactment of the solid waste law, as of 2014. To facilitate your search for a post, access the Recycling Posts section of eCycle.