There was a time when plasma TVs were the best thing you could buy.
Big screen.
Great picture.
Everyone wanted one.
Back then if you had a 50-inch plasma TV sitting in your lounge you felt pretty flash.
Now most of them are just sitting around Christchurch in garages, spare rooms, or storage areas waiting for someone to deal with them.
Because the problem with old plasma TVs isn’t just that they’re outdated.
They’re bloody heavy.
Technology Changes Fast
It’s actually crazy how quickly TV technology changes.
What used to be top-of-the-line ten or fifteen years ago now looks ancient.
Back when plasma TVs were popular they were:
- thick
- heavy
- full of glass
- power hungry
Modern TVs are completely different.
You can now buy a TV twice the size of an old plasma that weighs about a quarter of the weight.
Pick up a modern flat screen and one person can carry it easily.
Try doing that with a plasma TV and you’ll notice the difference straight away.
Wall Mounting a Plasma Was a Proper Job
Anyone who mounted a plasma TV on the wall back in the day will remember this.
You couldn’t just screw a bracket into the gib board and hope for the best.
Those things weighed so much you had to:
- find the wall studs
- bolt the bracket properly
- sometimes add extra timber support
Otherwise the whole thing would rip itself straight off the wall.
You almost needed a supporting bloody wall just to hold the thing up.
Now modern TVs are massive but surprisingly light.
Technology moved on fast.
The Problem Now — Getting Rid of Them
All that weight becomes a real problem when it’s time to get rid of the TV.
A lot of people around Christchurch still have old plasma TVs sitting in:
- garages
- spare rooms
- storage areas
- under the house
Because moving them is such a pain.
Most of the time you need two people just to carry one safely.
Sometimes People Just Hide the Bloody Things
I once did a house clearance job in Hornby, Christchurch clearing out an old bedroom.
Pulled a few boxes out from under the bed and there it was.
A 50-inch plasma TV.
Thing had about an inch of dust sitting on top of it, so it must have been under there for years.
At first I thought someone had just slid it under the bed to store it.
Then I tried picking it up.
That’s when I realised exactly why it ended up under the bed in the first place.
Those old plasma TVs weigh an absolute ton.
You grab the thing expecting it to feel like a normal flat screen, but it barely moves.
Two hands, little lift… and suddenly you realise this isn’t a TV you casually carry across the house.
So whoever owned that place probably tried moving it once, decided it wasn’t worth the effort…
…and just shoved it under the bed.
Problem postponed.
Nobody Really Wants Them Now
The other problem is demand.
Old plasma TVs have almost no resale value anymore.
They use more electricity.
They’re heavier.
And the picture quality isn’t better than modern screens.
So most people don’t bother trying to sell them.
They just want the thing gone.
Which is why old plasma TV disposal in Christchurch comes up pretty often during rubbish pickup jobs.
Can You Take a Plasma TV to the Dump?
Yes, you can dispose of them at Christchurch EcoDrop transfer stations.
Places like:
- Metro Place
- Parkhouse Road
- Bromley
- Styx Mill
These sites handle electronic waste, which includes televisions.
But taking a plasma TV there still means doing a dump run.
Moving a Plasma TV Is the Hard Part
Getting rid of the TV isn’t usually the problem.
Moving it is.
First you have to:
- lift it off the wall
- carry it through the house
- load it into the car
- drive across Christchurch
- unload it again
For something that can weigh 30–40 kilos, that’s a decent effort.
Which is why a lot of people keep putting the job off.
The TV just sits there until someone finally decides it has to go.
The Easier Option
Because of the weight and hassle, a lot of people around Christchurch book old TV removal instead.
No lifting it into the car.
No dump queues.
No wrestling a giant slab of glass through the house.
You just leave the TV somewhere accessible and it gets taken away.
If you’ve got an old plasma TV sitting around and you just want the bloody thing gone, you can Book a TV pickup in Christchurch:
Just want your old tv gone you can book here
Read about dumping it for free here if you like DIY.
