How to Dispose of E-Waste and Old TVs in Hobart

Everyone’s got one somewhere: a dead TV in the spare room, a drawer of tangled cables, an old laptop that hasn’t booted since 2018, or a box of chargers for phones you no longer own. Electronic waste — e-waste — piles up quietly, and then one day you decide to deal with it and realise you have no idea where it’s actually supposed to go. One thing’s for certain: it doesn’t belong in your kerbside bin.

This guide explains why e-waste can’t go in the bin, what counts as e-waste, your options for getting rid of it responsibly in Hobart, and how to deal with bulky items like old televisions.

Why e-waste can’t go in your kerbside bin

It’s tempting to just bin the small stuff and put the TV out with the hard rubbish. Don’t. E-waste is treated differently from general rubbish for good reasons, and in many places it’s actively prohibited from landfill.

• It contains hazardous materials. Electronics commonly contain lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals, along with flame retardants and other nasties. In landfill, these can leach into soil and waterways. Old CRT televisions and monitors — the big, heavy, boxy ones — are particularly bad, with several kilos of lead in the glass.
• It’s a waste of valuable resources. E-waste contains recoverable materials: gold, copper, aluminium, glass and various plastics. Burying it throws all of that away. Recycling recovers it.
• It’s one of the fastest-growing waste streams. As we churn through phones, laptops and TVs faster than ever, e-waste volumes keep climbing. Recycling it properly is the only sustainable way to handle that.
• Accredited recycling is the standard. E-waste should go through accredited e-waste recyclers who dismantle it safely and recover the materials — not into general landfill.

The bottom line: e-waste must go through proper e-waste recycling channels, not your general waste bin and not landfill.

What counts as e-waste?

If it has a plug, a battery, or a cord, it’s probably e-waste. The category is broad. Common household e-waste includes:

• Televisions — flat screens and the old heavy CRT box TVs
• Computers and laptops, monitors, keyboards, mice
• Printers and scanners
• Phones and tablets, plus all those chargers and cables
• Audio gear — stereos, speakers, amplifiers, radios
• Small kitchen appliances — microwaves, toasters, kettles, blenders
• Power tools and their batteries
• Game consoles, modems, routers and other gadgets

Larger whitegoods and appliances — fridges, washing machines, dryers — are a related but slightly different category. They also shouldn’t go to landfill and often contain refrigerant gases or components that need special handling. We cover those separately in our guides on getting rid of an old fridge and whitegoods in Hobart, and our appliance removal service handles them.

A special note on old TVs

Televisions deserve their own mention because they’re one of the most common — and most awkward — pieces of e-waste people need to shift.

Old CRT (cathode-ray tube) TVs — the deep, boxy ones from before flat screens — are heavy, contain significant amounts of lead, and absolutely should not go to landfill. They’re also a two-person lift in many cases. If you’ve still got one of these gathering dust, it needs to go to an accredited e-waste recycler.

Flat-screen TVs — LCD, LED, plasma — are lighter but still full of materials that need proper recycling. A cracked or dead flat screen is e-waste, not general rubbish.

Either way, a TV is not a bin item and shouldn’t be left on the kerb as hard rubbish in areas where e-waste isn’t accepted that way. Use one of the proper channels below.

Your options for disposing of e-waste in Hobart

1. Drop it at a transfer station that accepts e-waste

Many Hobart-area transfer stations accept e-waste separately for recycling. Depending on which council area you’re in, your local site may be:

• City of Hobart — McRobies Gully Waste Management Centre, South Hobart
• Glenorchy — the Jackson Street waste site
• Clarence and Sorell — Mornington Park transfer station
• Kingborough — Barretta
• Brighton — Cove Hill

E-waste is typically directed to a dedicated collection point at these sites rather than the general landfill area, so it can be sent on to accredited recyclers. Before you load up the car, it’s worth checking with your council or the facility about what e-waste they accept and whether there’s a fee — arrangements vary by site and change over time, so we won’t quote specifics here.

2. Use a designated e-waste drop-off or recycling scheme

There are national and state product-stewardship schemes that provide free or low-cost recycling for certain e-waste — televisions and computers in particular have an industry-funded recycling scheme. Some retailers also take back old devices, and there are dedicated drop-off points for items like phones and batteries. If you’ve got a small amount of e-waste and time to drop it somewhere, these schemes are a great, low-cost option. Check what’s currently running in your area before you head out.

3. Donate or sell working electronics

If your old gear still works, it doesn’t need recycling at all — someone else might want it. Working TVs, computers, consoles and appliances can be sold on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree, or donated to charity. Just make sure you’ve wiped any personal data off computers, phones and tablets first. A factory reset isn’t always enough for sensitive data, so for old work devices consider proper data destruction.

4. Book an e-waste removal service

If you’ve got a pile of e-waste, a heavy old CRT TV you can’t lift, or you simply don’t have a vehicle or the time to run it to a drop-off point, a removal service takes care of the lot. This is where we come in.

We collect e-waste and old electronics as part of our junk removal service, and we make sure it goes to the right place — accredited e-waste recycling rather than landfill. Here’s why people call us for it:

• We do the lifting. Old CRT TVs and stacks of gear are heavy and awkward. You don’t have to carry a thing.
• No vehicle needed. We bring the truck; you don’t need a ute or trailer.
• Responsible recycling. We direct e-waste to proper recycling channels, not the tip.
• Everything in one go. If your e-waste is mixed in with other clutter — say you’re clearing a garage or doing a general tidy-up — we take it all at once.
• Often same day. If you want it gone now, we can usually move quickly.

What not to do with e-waste

A few things to steer clear of:

• Don’t put it in the general waste bin. It’s the wrong place for it, and for some items it’s prohibited.
• Don’t put it in the recycling bin. Kerbside recycling is for paper, cardboard, glass, cans and certain plastics — not electronics. E-waste in the recycling bin contaminates the load.
• Don’t dump it. Leaving e-waste on the kerb where it’s not a recognised collection, or dumping it anywhere, is illegal dumping and can attract fines.
• Don’t bin loose batteries. Batteries — especially lithium-ion ones in phones, laptops and power tools — are a fire risk in bin trucks and at waste facilities. They need separate battery recycling, available at many supermarkets, hardware stores and council sites.

Data security: wipe before you dispose

This one’s easy to forget. Before you get rid of any device that stored personal information — computers, laptops, phones, tablets, even some printers and smart devices — make sure you’ve removed your data.

• Sign out of accounts and remove the device from any linked services.
• Perform a factory reset.
• For computers, ideally wipe the drive properly, not just delete files.
• Remove and keep (or destroy) any SIM cards and memory cards.

Reputable recyclers handle devices responsibly, but it’s your data — take the extra five minutes to clear it before the device leaves your hands.

How much does e-waste removal cost?

As with most rubbish removal, there’s no single flat fee. The cost depends on how much e-waste you’ve got and whether it’s mixed in with other items. A single old TV is a quick job; a garage full of old electronics, monitors and appliances is a bigger one. We give you a clear, upfront quote before we start, so there are no surprises. You can read more on our rubbish removal prices page, and if you want a broader sense of costs, our guide on how much rubbish removal costs in Hobart goes into more detail.

We service the whole greater Hobart area

Wherever you are around Hobart, we can collect your e-waste and old TVs. We work right across the greater Hobart region, including suburbs like Sandy Bay, Moonah, Bellerive and Glenorchy. The full list is on our areas we service page. If you’d like to know where your rubbish actually ends up once it leaves your place, our article on where Hobart’s rubbish goes is a good read.

Clear out the old tech responsibly

E-waste is one of those jobs that’s easy to put off because the rules feel murky. But the principle is simple: electronics don’t go in the bin — they go to accredited recycling. Whether you drop it off yourself, use a take-back scheme, or have us collect it, the important thing is that it stays out of landfill and the valuable materials get recovered.

If you’ve got old TVs, computers, appliances or a general pile of e-waste you want gone, give us a call on 0468 097 187 for a friendly, no-obligation quote. We’ll do the heavy lifting and make sure it’s recycled the right way. You can also reach us through our contact page.