I pick them up all the time. There is about 2 lbs of copper in each tv or old computer monitor. There is a big heavy coil on the back of the tube and a degaussing cable that goes around the tube. There are also, copper chips, heavy aluminum cooling fins, and transistors that you can either strip or just take in as electric motors plus the cords. I find I usually get about $6-7 worth of material out of each one. It adds up fast. The garbage man doesn't like me much though when I throw out 5-6 tvs at a time.