Austin Chronicle
Richard Whittaker

No one likes a bill they worked hard on to die, but there’s particular fury in the environmental community today that Gov. Rick Perry killed House Bill 821, the famous zombie TV recycling legislation. “Perry had no good reason to veto this bill,” Texas Campaign for the Environment Director Robin Schneider said.

A Magnavox? This should go in a museum, not a landfill
Photo by Richard Whittaker

The bill got TV manufacturers into the recycling game: A particularly important issue since the digital switch made many sets unusable. Schneider’s already had the chance to challenge Perry on his veto. This morning, before a rally at the Capitol, she and some protesters headed to UT’s Volunteer Leadership Summit, where Perry was scheduled to speak. As she explained, she came out of the elevator and there was the gov. When she asked for an explanation, “He said this was an industry bill. Well, coming from Texas’ business-friendly Perry, that’s an interesting argument.”

Schneider is particularly frustrated because Perry struck the bill down even though it had wide-spread support (including big industry names like GE, Thomson, Philips and the TechAmerica trade association) that almost exactly mirrored the consensus-backing of the 2007 session’s computer recycling bill. “This bill uses the free market to let the companies come up with their recycling plans, and the fees were modest,” she lamented.

More importantly, Perry’s staff told her he was fine with it – right up to the point he vetoed it.

Dallas Observer
Kimberly Thorpe

At noon today in Victory Park, a group of enviro-activists dressed for Halloween dropped to the concrete to rather dramatically mark the end of analog television. The switch from analog to digital television was supposed to happen back in February but was delayed when an estimated 6 million U.S. household were unprepared for the switch. But time’s run out: The flip was switched, oh, ’bout 90 minutes ago.

As a result, the Texas Campaign for the Environment  — the group behind today’s Victory Park demonstration — estimates that 3 million televisions will be tossed out in Texas (about 20 to 80 million sets nationally). Since old television sets contain anywhere from four to eight pounds of lead, this is a hell of a lot of toxic waste to hit the environment at once.

“These zombies are here to serve as a reminder that trashing obsolete televisions is a toxic option that may come back to haunt us,” said program director Jeffrey Jacoby, as his zombie staff stood frozen behind him. “You don’t want these in your landfills,” he said, motioning toward the zombies. (And there’s a slide show from this forthcoming.)

The most environmentally conscious thing to do is always to reuse items rather than toss them. Local Radio Shacks confirm they’re still busy selling converters today, while Best Buy is offering to recycle old televisions up to 32 inches for $10.

Jacoby is calling on Governor Rick Perry to sign a bill passed in the Legislature to mandate more statewide recycling programs for used TVs, and “keep these old dead televisions from entering our landfills and water sources.”

Photos: Kimberly Thorpe