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Scott County's electronic demanufacturing facility hopes holiday digital TV purchases will translate to analog TVs being recycled. To encourage e-waste recycling, Scott County residents can drop off electronic waste at no charge from now until Feb. 27 at Waste Commission of Scott County, 1048 E. 59th St., Davenport. In 2007, more than 15,000 pounds of e-waste -- anything with a circuit board or cathode ray tube -- was recycled between Thanksgiving and Jan. 4, said Erin Robinson, communications coordinator. Officials anticipate even more as many residents replace analog TVs to coincide with broadcasters' switch to digital broadcasting. However, all e-waste is accepted. Computers, monitors, videocassette recorders, DVD players, stereos, cell phones, cameras, printers and scanners are included. When the waste commission opened its e-waste facility in 2005, 560,000 pounds of materials were recycled. In 2007, the amount of material recycled jumped to 1.1 million pounds. Recycling e-waste saves space at the Scott County landfill and prevents toxic materials from entering it.

The winter holidays are over, and brittle Christmas trees and empty champagne bottles aren't alone in many consumers' trash heaps. There are also used computers, televisions, cell phones and other gizmos that have been replaced with fancier models. Those piles may be somewhat larger than in recent years, thanks to the imminent U.S. government-mandated changeover from analog to digital television broadcasting. The switch, which is slated for February, has prompted many consumers to flock to retailers for new sets. American households have, on average, about 24 consumer electronics products, according the Consumer Electronics Association. The winter holidays are over, and brittle Christmas trees and empty champagne bottles aren't alone in many consumers' trash heaps. There are also used computers, televisions, cell phones and other gizmos that have been replaced with fancier models. Those piles may be somewhat larger than in recent years, thanks to the imminent U.S. government-mandated changeover from analog to digital television broadcasting. The switch, which is slated for February, has prompted many consumers to flock to retailers for new sets. American households have, on average, about 24 consumer electronics products, according the Consumer Electronics Association.

America's TV stations will make a historic switch next month from analog to digital signals. But what promises to bring a sharper picture is also raising the curtain on a big environmental unknown across California: What will happen to the millions of old TV sets that no longer work? It's illegal to simply toss the estimated 2 million old TVs - chock-full of hazardous waste - into the garbage. "We're preparing for a tidal wave. We've already seen more televisions being donated and we expect to see more as the switch-over comes," said James David, a spokesman for Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties. On Feb. 17, older analog televisions that receive signals "over the air" from a rooftop antenna or with "rabbit ears" will stop working.

The government's billion-dollar program to help people prepare for the transition to digital television has run out of money, potentially leaving millions of viewers without coupons to buy converter boxes they need to keep their analog TV sets working after the switch.The government's billion-dollar program to help people prepare for the transition to digital television has run out of money, potentially leaving millions of viewers without coupons to buy converter boxes they need to keep their analog TV sets working after the switch.

"It's not much of a stretch to liken America's relationship with cells phones to a once sizzling romance that ends in goodbye. Fated love affairs typically begin with blind infatuation and fiery passion before reality sets in, cooling the embers enough to allow more guarded, sometimes less attractive aspects of the self to surface. Interest wanes until the love object is abandoned or replaced by an alluring new one. Americans relate to cell phones in much the same way. An old phone, with once novel features that drew fascination, is discarded with hardly a thought when an updated model makes it seem obsolete. That consumers replace cell phones about every two years makes this analogy seem less silly. A parallel can be drawn, too, between the innards of a cell phone and what is revealed when one person lets another peek inside: it's not all pretty. Some nasty materials lurk behind the bright shiny casing, making cell phone disposal a knotty environmental issue, analogous to ending, with minimal damages, a relationship gone sour. "

With all the hoopla surrounding Apple's announcements about the iPhone 3G S and its subsequent release on June 19th, many might have forgotten about another key date coming up just as fast.

Have you converted? If you haven't, you might want to start hustling. The USA becomes an all-digital TV market on Feb. 17. When it happens at midnight more than 70 million analog TVs that use antennas to receive over-the-air signals will need help...

Make Magazine has some ideas for things to do with your old analog TV.