"It's been resoundingly successful," The Warehouse South Dunedin manager Gareth Michelle said of the two-week, joint initiative between the Government and the nationwide retail chain's 20 Extra stores.
Ten shipping containers were filled with old cathode ray televisions dropped off at the Hillside Rd store and - although they were not meant to be - at other The Warehouse stores in Dunedin, Queenstown, Alexandra and Balclutha.
"They've all been brought here and are being shipped away for recycling," Mr Michelle said.
Nationwide more than 25,000 TVs were dropped off during the fortnight.
More than 96% of the sets' components will be recycled through recycling plants in Auckland and Christchurch.
Dunedin City Council waste strategy officer Catherine Irvine said the electronics industry now needed to offer "a long-term solution to reduce the waste load on our environment".
"Councils and consumers nationwide are waiting for industry to take action. There are no benefits gained by procrastinating any longer," Ms Irvine said.
While the TV recycling initiative was positive, there were "still thousands of TVs out there", she said.
"I encourage our community to use the TV recycling solution provided for at Green Island, in preference to landfill disposal."
Dunedin City Council charges $20 per television taken to the recycling depot at the Green Island landfill.
There are about 2.2 million older-style cathode ray tube televisions in New Zealand, containing an estimated 4400 tonnes of lead.
About 50,000 are disposed of each year.
That number is expected to increase sharply as the switchover to digital television approaches, despite the fact the older televisions can be used to view channels on the digital platform.
