How to get rid of an old TV in Topeka

Flat screen or tube?

The price depends on which kind you have.

• Flat screen (LCD, LED, OLED, or plasma): thin, light for its size, and usually from 2006 or later.
• Tube TV, or CRT: deep from front to back, heavy, with a curved or flat glass screen. Most were sold before about 2008. Old computer monitors with the same deep shape are CRTs too, and are priced the same.

A rear-projection TV, the big cabinet type from the early 2000s, isn't a CRT unless it says so. Call the county and describe it before you haul it over.

Shawnee County: free for flat screens

Fees are from the county's solid waste FAQ, checked October 28, 2026: "There is no charge for E-waste, with the exception of CRT TVs and monitors." The same facility takes the rest of the electronics pile for free, including the cable box, game console, old computers, and the tangle of cords. If you're bringing a lot, or coming from outside Shawnee County, call first.

Take the batteries out of the remote. The facility takes household batteries too, but they're handled separately from electronics.

Best Buy

Best Buy's Topeka store at 1600 SW Wanamaker Rd takes TVs from any brand. The rules on its recycling page, as of October 2026:

• $29.99 per TV, paid at drop-off. Insignia and Dynex TVs, Best Buy's own brands, are free up to 50 inches.
• Size limits: flat screens 50 inches and smaller, tube TVs 31 inches and smaller.
• Two TVs per household per day.
• Buying a new TV from them? Haul-away of the old one costs $49.99 when Best Buy delivers the new one.

For a flat screen, the county is free and Best Buy isn't, so Best Buy mainly makes sense if it's on your way or you're buying a replacement there. For a small tube TV, $29.99 at Best Buy is less than the county's $40, as long as the store will take it. Call the store first, since some stores limit what they accept.

If it still works

A working flat screen from the last several years is worth more to someone else than to a recycler.

• Sell it or give it away on Facebook Marketplace or a local Buy Nothing group. Listing it for free usually gets it out of the house within a day or two. My Marketplace guide is about laptops, but the same safety rules apply: meet in public or have the buyer pick up from the driveway.
• Reset it first. A smart TV stays signed in to Netflix, YouTube, and other accounts. Use the TV's own factory reset option in its settings menu to sign everything out and erase saved Wi-Fi passwords.
• Donating: thrift stores and charity resale shops each set their own rules, and many no longer take TVs, especially tube TVs. Call before you load it. Topeka Habitat for Humanity's ReStore is at 121 NE Gordon St, 785-783-7670.
• Pawn shops sometimes buy recent smart TVs in good shape. Expect a low offer.

Working tube TVs are hard to give away, with one exception: people who play old video game consoles sometimes want them, because older games look and play best on a CRT. Listing a working one for free may find it a home.

If it's broken

A flat screen with a cracked panel almost never makes sense to repair. The replacement panel usually costs close to what a new TV does. Other faults, like a dead power board, can be fixable, but finding someone to do it is harder than it used to be. Broken TVs have very little resale value, even for parts, so the county facility is usually the right stop.

Moving a big TV

• Tube TVs are heavier than they look. Large ones take two people. Lift with the screen facing you and keep it upright.
• Carry flat screens upright, by the frame. Pressing on the screen or laying a large one flat can crack the panel. That doesn't matter for recycling, but it does if you're selling it.
• Don't open a tube TV. The inside can hold a dangerous electrical charge long after it's unplugged.

The VCR, DVD player, and tapes

VCRs, DVD and Blu-ray players, cable boxes, and sound bars count as electronics, so they go to the county facility free with the TV.

VHS tapes and DVDs aren't electronics, and most recycling programs don't take them. Movies in good shape can go to a thrift store if it still accepts them. Home videos are different: digitize the ones you care about before they go, since a tape and the last working VCR in the family don't last forever. Tapes with nothing worth keeping can go in the trash.

Getting rid of a computer or monitor along with the TV? The Topeka electronics recycling guide covers the rest, plus Lawrence, Manhattan, and Emporia. Wipe the computer first.