The reuse of discarded TV tubes in the Netherlands

The volume of discarded consumer goods will be enormous in the future. Various European governments are preparing rules to reduce landfill and are making manufacturers responsible for their discarded goods. Among consumer goods, TV sets and monitors account for a large part and the disassembly of these goods has been started some years to reuse materials. From an analysis it follows that the recovery of glass of TV tubes is the most attracting and important material. Glass of TV tubes can be reused in different industries, like ceramic industry, TV tube industry, glass industry and road construction. For the Netherlands, the processing capacity is much larger than the supply of tubes, in case glass is reused in these industries. However, if the glass is used at the lowest level, that means for screen and conus glass production in the TV tube industry, the capacity has to be inCreased. But, for this application, the demand from the industry will be much larger than de supply, even if the European situation is considered. Therefore this is not a real reuse option at this moment.