How much lead in a CRT?
 

60 Minutes last night said there are 4 pounds of lead in a CRT. The CRT they showed looked like maybe a 19-inch rectangular color CRT, probably fairly modern. Is there this much lead in an earlier CRT like my Zenith color roundie? How about my B/W roundies? Is the lead on the outside or is it safely bottled up in the vacuum? Should I stop eating aquadag chips?

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It isnt as hazardous as it is proffitable..
Just another scare tactic brought to you by your local landfill to collect your e waste for proffit :D

Steve

Here's a viewpoint of a recycler:

http://www.qsrecycling.com/whatisacrt.html

It seems that it's the frit that's the problem. The lead oxide in it is quite soluable.

John

Thanks John. Armed with the term "frit", a google search turns up lots of details.

e.g. http://www.uoregon.edu/~recycle/PDFd.../g2g_final.pdf

I'm convinced the lead is bound inside the CRT and is harmless unless you bust it open. False alarm.

Lead must be ingested in order to be harmful. So just don't eat your TV set :)

Charles

Since I've been collecting TVs I've been handling a lot of CRTs. Didn't know what your hands might absorb...

Well anyone ever hear or Lead Crystal ???? Drinking glasses have been and are still being made out of Lead Crystal which is in fact glass with a lead content.

Yes, I gather lead-crystal drinking glasses are completely harmless. The Frit paste, being soluble lead-oxide is I'm sure what 60-minutes was griping over.

I bet if we could find the formula for it, lead-oxide frit paste would permanently seal leaky 15GP22's. Wear gloves and home-brew a batch and there you go.

I believe there was a study a few years ago that said unexpectedly high amounts of lead can leach from lead crystal into stored liquids such as whiskey. So, keep your hootch in the original bottle!

Lead crystal isn't dangerous for the short time it's at the table. But, if you keep an acidic drink in it for a period of time, or "store your houch", the levels do become serious.

John

How about lead pipes? Paint? Or the lead we all breathe in due to incineration and power utility smokestacks?


I wager that every single discarded CRT does get totally crushed to bits whether in the hopper of the sanitation truck or at the landfill. It is a problem, but what can really be done? Very widespread issue (groundwater contamination)

Frit is a new term to me. Interesting site.

Lead pipes are being phased out in new buildings and in renovation work.

I don't think you can buy paint with lead in it unless you are building
ships.

The reduction of lead is consumer electronics is aimed at eliminating
lead from the waste that gets incinerated.

If you can gather CRTs separately, I trust that the lead can be extracted
rather than being mixed with groundwater. Is it being done anywhere, that's
another question...

The two websites mentioned in this thread are from companies who specialize in CRT recycling. I'm sure by now, in this country, most discarded CRTs find their way to where they belong.

I'll add that I had a lead-soldier casting kit when I was 10. You could buy big slabs of lead at the toy store and break them (a lot like Kit-Kat bars) into soldier-sized slices and then melt and pour them into soldier molds. It was something to do. I used to get bored after awhile and melt all my soldiers down and make different ones. I didn't grow a third head or anything (yet).

I've also handled a lot of 60/40 solder over 40 years. So I'm not a weenie about touching it either. The 60-minutes piece made me think I might reconsider. This thread made me feel fine. I just don't think I'd want to bathe in lead oxide dissolved in ground water. Elemental lead, well like Charles said, just don't eat it.

And, dang it, I was really enjoying snarfing those aquadag chips...

I believe the show MODERN MARVLES covered a day at a landfill, They put thick liners in the pit and some pipes at the bottom to draw out and filter the landfill liquids before they even start dumping trash in it. Which is alot more than they did back in the day when you could chuck a tv into the pile without someone pooing their knickers hehehe

Steve