Denton residents now must pay to recycle their old TVs and computer monitors at the city landfill.

The city started charging to accept the items Jan. 2, faced with slumping commodity prices and an onslaught of old televisions in advance of the nationwide switch to digital TV, said Shirlene Sitton, the city’s recycling manager.

DRC/Barron Ludlum

The city of Denton instated a $15-per-item fee to recycle TVs or monitors at the city landfill. For $20 per item, curbside pickup by appointment is available for residents.

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Electronics that can’t be refurbished are broken down and sold into metal, glass or other commodity markets. Demand for many recycled materials has declined with the markets, though, so cities and recycling companies are earning less money for the recyclables they sell.

“We were planning on the digital [TV] switchover and having to offset it, but it’s just worse because of the commodities crash,” said Sitton, incoming president of the North Texas Corporate Recycling Association, which promotes corporate recycling and recycled goods. “The markets have been going down for a while, and starting about midyear last year the cost of our electronics [recycling] program started going through the roof.”

The city also started offering curbside pickup of TVs and computer monitors this month. That service — available by appointment — costs $20 per item, compared with the new $15-per-item fee to drop them off at the landfill on South Mayhill Road.

The city still accepts for recycling other small household electronics — including cellphones and computer parts other than monitors — free of charge at the landfill. However, the drop-off site has moved inside the landfill gates to deter illegal dumping.

Other North Texas cities are also feeling the pinch of market forces.

Dallas is considering storing its recycled materials until the economy rebounds. Plano has seen its recycling profits fall 75 percent recently.

Fort Worth, which in the past has churned out up to $2 million in annual profits from its operation, now faces the prospect of losing money. Irving and Richardson are bracing for similar squeezes.

“I don’t think there’s a city out there that’s not facing these issues,” said Kim A. Mote, Fort Worth’s assistant director of environmental management.

Sitton, the Denton recycling manager, said she hopes the new fees to recycle TVs and computer monitors don’t deter residents from recycling. Electronics can contain lead, mercury and other substances that can be harmful if not disposed of properly.

Federal law does not require the recycling of electronics, but some states have mandatory programs to keep them out of landfills. In Texas, a 2007 law requires computer manufacturers to employ recycling plans; it does not apply to televisions.

Congress has mandated that all television programming on public airwaves go digital next month, meaning analog TVs won’t work without cable, satellite or a converter box. The switch is set for Feb. 17, although President-elect Barack Obama has asked for a delay amid fears that too many Americans are unprepared.

The looming change prompted some consumers to buy new TVs and discard their old ones, said Terry Shultz of Irving-based E-Waste Collections, an electronics recycling business.

Shultz, who also serves on a regional recycling association board, said many recyclers now charge to accept TVs and computer monitors.

“Those prices have gone down so much [that] we can’t recover enough to cover the cost of getting the equipment and breaking it down to material parts,” said Shultz, who expects prices to recover next year. “As we educate people on it, I’m finding most individuals and companies alike are willing to pay” to recycle electronics.

Consumer electronics make up a fraction of the country’s solid waste stream, but the percentage is growing as more products become obsolete. More than 99 million televisions sold between 1980 and 2007 were in storage in 2007, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. About 42.4 million computer monitors were in storage from the same period.

Of the 2.25 million tons of televisions, cellphones and computer products disposed of in 2007, about 18 percent were recycled.

Dallas Morning News writer Theodore Kim contributed to this report.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

The city landfill at 1100 S. Mayhill Road in Denton now charges $15 per item to accept televisions and computer monitors for recycling.

To schedule curbside pickup of these items, call 940-349-8787; a $20 per-item charge will be added to your next utility bill.

For more information about the digital TV conversion, visit www.dtv.gov .