Sally Ganz is saying goodbye to her old TV. She recently upgraded to an HD television. She brought her old set to the Mecklenburg County Recycling Center on Statesville Road.

The four full-service recycling centers in Mecklenburg County will take your old TVs and computer monitors, and send them to a company to be recycled. It's important because the EPA says the average older TV contains four pounds lead. If that gets into our landfills, it can leak into our drinking water.

Jim Barry works for the consumer electronics association. They have done research about the switch to digital TV next year. He thinks most people will keep their old sets and buy a converter, or give their older TVs away. But he knows some people will toss their TVs into the trash.

“The bad news is, about 75% of us don't know where to recycle our electronics. The good news is, about that same number of people say they would recycle if they knew where to go,” he said.

If you don’t live in Mecklenburg County, Barry says you can find a recycling location by logging on to mygreenelectronics.org. You can enter your zip code, and it will tell you the closest location in your area.

Ganz is happy she decided to recycle her TV. And her choice will keep dangerous metals out of a landfill, and protect the water we drink.