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Out with the old and in with the new ... Waitakere residents are discarding their old television sets at an accelerating rate - encouraged by hot deals on latest technology sets with large, flat screens.
The city council's inorganic rubbish collections are yielding dozens of used sets each day for its recycling centre in Henderson.
"We get over 100 old sets in perfect working order each week," said councillor Vanessa Neeson, whose committee oversees city waste bylaws.
"I guess it's because in a disposable society electronic goods are coming down in price.
"We see the number of TVs tossed out jump when the summer sales are on."
This week, one in three households on Hobsonville Rd put out used sets for collection.
The cast-offs are a mixed blessing, though.
On one hand the council sees them as an opportunity to make more cash which will subsidise the cost of new types of rubbish services.
The recycle centre has started listing them for sale on Trade Me, with a modest $40 reserve price, in the hope of luring buyers.
On the other, council official collectors are racing to reach them first before scavengers start raking over the piles of roadside treasure.
Mrs Neeson said many TVs were being smashed by scavengers in the process of removing their copper coils to sell as scrap metal. "The smashed glass is a real danger to people in the street, including our rubbish contractors," she said. The council's bylaws prohibit such a practice.
Retailers Association spokesman Barry Hellberg said prices were falling on television sets and consumer electronics because of intense competition drive by chain stores.
