Tathra’s David Neyle has a passion and talent for repairing technology destined to be dumped in quickly filling landfill.

Originally trained as an electronics technical officer in the 1970s, fixing a friend’s flat screen plasma television six years reignited a passion he discovered after receiving an electric train as a present at the age of six.

“Because of rampant consumerism people are throwing away perfectly serviceable TVs,” Mr Neyle said.

“These are ending up in the waste stream despite often being repairable.

“Sometimes they can have intermittent faults, but I come across perfectly fine TVs because people have upgraded and it had entered the waste stream.

“I find it quite shocking.”

Planet Ark predicts that by 2028 a staggering 44 million televisions will reach the end of their useful life in Australia.

Mr Neyle said given households often have multiple televisions, keeping them running for as long as possible is extremely important as it prevents potentially dangerous materials entering the environment.

Next week is National Recycling Week, the first since China announced a ban on accepting Australian recycling imports earlier this year.

Research by Planet Ark has revealed 71 per cent of people are confident they know what can and can’t be recycled, yet 61 per cent would still like to see more information.

However, it is not just recycling which keeps waste out of landfill, and Mr Neyle’s aims to share his television repair skills during the Bega Remakery’s Fix It Fridays at Funhouse Studio.

“I had the benefit of retiring a bit earlier than most people, and I felt it was important to help contribute back into society,” he said.

Mr Neyle said manufacturers hope if they build new models consumers will jump on board.

“Companies are always encouraging you to cycle through to a new model,” he said.

“The current thing is 4K television but nothing is actually broadcast at that level of definition.”