The short answer
Televisions are electronic waste. They contain leaded glass in the older sets, mercury in some backlights, and circuit boards with recoverable metals in all of them. That is why they are handled on a separate stream almost everywhere and why they are one of the most common items excluded from ordinary bulky collection.
Three routes that work in this metro: a manufacturer or retailer take-back, if one applies to your set; a municipal or county e-waste collection, if your city runs one; or a private removal. Ours: TV under 42" $62, 42" to 65" $68, over 65" $73.
Check your own city's current bulky-item or e-waste page by address before you assume anything. DFW is a patchwork of separate municipal arrangements and televisions are exactly the category where they differ.
Old tube sets and new flat panels are different problems
The CRT. A tube television is mostly leaded glass and it is extraordinarily heavy for its size — a 32-inch set can weigh more than a washing machine. Almost nobody wants one, recycling it is a net cost, and the number of places that will take one has fallen every year. If you have a CRT still sitting in a Dallas garage, it has been there a while and it is not going to become easier to dispose of.
Those sets are also the reason so many Dallas houses have a giant dark-wood entertainment center in the den. The cabinet outlived the television by fifteen years. If the cabinet is going too, an entertainment center or TV stand is $96.
The flat panel. Lighter, but fragile in a specific way — a cracked panel is unsafe to handle and cannot be repaired economically. Large modern sets are also genuinely awkward to carry: a 75-inch panel is a two-person lift because of its area, not its weight, and it must stay vertical.
Do not put a flat panel face-down in a truck bed and do not lean it against a wall in the garage where it can be knocked. If you still have the original box or the foam corners, use them.
Selling or donating, and when not to bother
A working flat panel from the last few years does move on local marketplaces, particularly in the rental belts — Lower Greenville, Knox-Henderson, the SMU streets around Snider Plaza, Vickery Meadow, Uptown — where there is constant turnover and someone is always kitting out a first flat. Price it low, be honest about the age, and expect no-shows.
What does not move: any tube television, any set with a cracked or lined panel, any set old enough to have needed an external streaming box for years. Listing those is three weekends you will not get back.
Charities in the metro vary a lot on electronics, and several have stopped taking televisions entirely because of the disposal liability at the back end. Ring before you drive.
One Dallas-specific warning: do not park the TV in the garage while the listing runs. Attached garages here are unconditioned and run far past a hundred degrees for weeks at a time in summer. Heat cycling is hard on panels and harder on the capacitors behind them, and a working set stored through July can quite easily become a non-working set by September.
Why the curb is usually wrong for a TV
Even in cities that collect bulky items generously, televisions are a common exclusion because they are classified as e-waste rather than bulk. Setting one out where it is not accepted leaves it sitting there, which in the alley-collected parts of East Dallas, Lakewood and Oak Cliff means it sits in a shared alley blocking a neighbor's gate until somebody complains.
A television left outside also does not survive. Dallas spring storms bring serious hail between March and June, and a panel that takes a hail hit is no longer something anyone can handle safely. Rain into an unsealed set is its own problem.
Check your own city's page. If televisions are excluded, they are excluded, and the workaround is an e-waste route rather than a heavier set-out.
Our prices for TVs and the rest of the electronics
- TV, under 42": $62
- TV, 42" to 65": $68
- TV, 65"+: $73
- Computer monitor: $58
- Desktop computer / tower: $62
- Printer, home / inkjet: $58
- Printer, office / laser, freestanding: $71
- Box of electronics: $77
- Stereo / sound system: $52
- Speaker system, large: $57
- Entertainment center / TV stand: $96
- Copier / printer, commercial: $97
- 3D printer: $82
- Paper shredder, freestanding: $37
The den in one go: a 42" to 65" TV at $68 plus an entertainment center at $96 plus a large speaker system at $57 = $221. A home office: a desktop tower at $62 plus a monitor at $58 plus a home printer at $58 = $178.
The visit minimum is $75, so a single TV sits under it and is best combined with something else — or the visit simply prices at $75. Carry-out from any floor is included and there is no stair charge.
Wipe it first
Modern televisions are computers. If yours has been signed in to streaming services, it is holding account credentials, and a smart TV with a built-in assistant may hold more than that.
Before it leaves the house, do a factory reset from the settings menu and sign out of the accounts individually if the menu offers that. Same for a desktop tower or a laptop going out in the same load — a factory reset is not the same as wiping a drive, and if the machine held anything financial you want the drive removed or properly erased first.
We are not going to do this for you and you should not want us to. It takes five minutes and it happens before the crew arrives.
Access, and the buildings that need a COI
Most TV jobs are simple. Two cases are not.
Wall-mounted panels. A 75-inch set on a full-motion bracket above a fireplace in a Frisco or McKinney two-story is a two-person job to bring down safely. Take it off the wall yourself only if you have a second person. We will do it as part of the removal — say so at booking.
High-rise flats. Uptown, Victory Park and Downtown buildings run on booked service-lift slots, loading-dock windows and a certificate of insurance held by management. We carry the COI and send it ahead if you give us the management contact. A large panel and a dock slot are far easier together than a large panel and a stranger's lift on a Saturday.
Neither changes the price. Both change the plan.
Frequently asked questions
How much does TV disposal cost in Dallas?
$62 for a set under 42 inches, $68 for 42 to 65 inches and $73 for anything over 65 inches. The visit minimum is $75, so a single TV is usually combined with something else — a TV at $68 plus an entertainment center at $96 = $164.
Can I put a TV out with the bulk trash?
Usually not. Televisions are classified as e-waste rather than bulk and are one of the most commonly excluded categories in municipal programs. Check your own city's current bulky-item or e-waste page by address — this is exactly the category where neighboring DFW cities differ.
What do I do with an old tube TV?
A CRT is mostly leaded glass and very heavy for its size, and fewer places accept them every year. It is not going to get easier. We take one under 42 inches for $62. If the entertainment center it lived in is going too, that is $96.
Do you take the TV off the wall?
Yes, as part of the removal. Say so at booking — a large panel on a full-motion bracket is a two-person job and we will send the right crew. There is no extra charge for it.
Should I wipe the TV first?
Yes. Modern sets hold streaming account credentials. Do a factory reset from the settings menu and sign out of accounts individually before the crew arrives. Same for any computer going out in the same load.
Is it safe to store a TV in the garage until I sell it?
Not in a Dallas summer. Attached garages here are unconditioned and run far past a hundred degrees for weeks at a time, which is hard on panels and harder on the capacitors behind them. A working set stored through July can be a dead one by September.