So I got this call from our local mayor about how we can bring in old electronics to the nearby Best Buy tomorrow to have them recycled for free. I'm planning on bringing in some 5-year-old junk computer monitors, but I was hoping to maybe salvage some of the electronics people bring in. I can't imagine that they're all dead as a doornail. Does anyone else have this type of system in their hometowns? I guess it's better than just dumping them in the trash, but it'd be nice if some of them could be saved.

I seem to recall someone else attempting this, and sadly, Best Buy will not let you pull anything aside once it has been donated. Too many liability issues, and they won't let you sign off on anything to remove said liablity. I also imagine Best Buy gets cash from an electronics recycler for taking this stuff for free, and god forbid you cut into their bottom line.

Just one more reason I sure hope Best Buy never comes to North Bay or to Canada on my watch. There's already enough problems right here in good ol' Ontario with these so-called E-waste recyclers which I totally despise as a vintage TV collector myself.
To VK members that do have E-waste recyclers in their respective areas-
Get involved and place an ad on Craigslist, your local classifieds, etc, that you're looking for vintage TVs. In your ad, politely advertise you're looking for vintage TVs, include your phone number as well as your email. It works, I have found over 15 vintage TVs in North Bay and area with my ad on our Kijiji here in Canada. Get to know people in your area as well and ask them about vintage TVs as well as word-of-mouth also works. Also, check out any electronics repair places as well and politely ask them about vintage TVs as well. It's always an awesome thing to be at least 1 or 2 steps ahead of E-waste recyclers as you will really reap the awesome rewards of finding those vintage TVs before they do:-)
Some very helpful advice to be well ahead in the vintage TV/electronics game in you're area-you will be glad you did:-)
Happy vintage TV hunting to all:-)

Like with most things, if you know the right people, maybe an exception could be made-but you might have to really know them well. I mean, if you were best friends with the manager of the BB, surely he'd let you sneak that flat chassis Zenith out the back door, right? :)

I've talked with the guy in charge of the recycling program for the local tri-county area. He was receptive to me helping, and said he forwarded my name to the company they use, but nothing has ever come of it. I had been taking all of my junk across the state line to DE where some of the recycling centers had shipping containers where you could leave electronics. They were just out in the open, always wide open. I never did find anything real decent to take from there, aside from a cigar box full of used audio tubes. I guess the system was being abused because the last time I drove over there the container had been moved to behind a locked fence inside the garbage collection site. Not a resident, so I can't weasel my way in there.

Like with most things, if you know the right people, maybe an exception could be made-but you might have to really know them well. I mean, if you were best friends with the manager of the BB, surely he'd let you sneak that flat chassis Zenith out the back door, right? :)

I've talked with the guy in charge of the recycling program for the local tri-county area. He was receptive to me helping, and said he forwarded my name to the company they use, but nothing has ever come of it. I had been taking all of my junk across the state line to DE where some of the recycling centers had shipping containers where you could leave electronics. They were just out in the open, always wide open. I never did find anything real decent to take from there, aside from a cigar box full of used audio tubes. I guess the system was being abused because the last time I drove over there the container had been moved to behind a locked fence inside the garbage collection site. Not a resident, so I can't weasel my way in there.

The biggest issue is that many people are misinformed in this throw-away society what to do with their perfectly functioning old TV that they don't want anymore. There is a flea market right down the street from that Best Buy, yet most people are NEVER advised to try and sell it there. They also aren't encouraged to sell their vintage sets at Goodwill either. It's rather unfortunate.

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Just curios, in U.S.A. and Canada the firms that are collecting those electronics are state owned or private owned?

Most, I believe, are private. Some states or local governments may run their own. In many cases the government will collect the sets then turn them over to a private firm for disposal. So, at some stage, there is money to be made.