Can CDs Be Recycled? 136
An anonymous reader asks: "I was recently doing a closet-cleaning and came across literally hundreds of old software CDs that are no longer usable — both manufactured CDs and CD-Rs. Note that by 'not usable', I mean that many of them simply couldn't be read anymore, possibly due to the fact that they'd been stored rather ineptly (no, I wasn't responsible for how they were stored). It seems wrong to just throw them out, but are there other things that can be done with them that will allow their raw materials to be reused in some way?Is it possible to reclaim CDs for raw materials?"
Dunno about the US. (Score:5, Informative)
Yes (Score:5, Informative)
Microwave (Score:4, Informative)
Dunno about Europe. (Score:3, Informative)
It annoys me so much that in a little flat country such as Denmark we can't figure out how to sort our waste, especially when the tiniest mountain villages in Austria do it. >_< Ok, rant over.
Re:They make great coasters (Score:4, Informative)
Artwork (Score:3, Informative)
Probably. (Score:2, Informative)
polycarbonate -- unfortunately not (Score:4, Informative)
We use the Technotrash can by GreenDisk (Score:1, Informative)
http://www.greendisk.com/ [greendisk.com]
Re:Microwave (Score:4, Informative)
Re:They make great coasters (Score:4, Informative)
On the other hand they don't tend to stop the wax from flowing all over the place.
In most cases... (Score:2, Informative)
Electronic waste is a huge part of our community in the United States and as a result a lot of recycling centers and other facilities have cropped up to try to handle it. Since I work for them, the first place I'd check to locate a facility near me is EARTH911, there is even a computer recycling section being floated right now: Computer Components Recycling [earth911.org].
In many cases they will be reuse and donation centers, or something like ACT [earth911.org]; in the end anything that gives these items a longer lifespan in the community or puts them to different use than ending up in a landfill is a step in good direction.
Every geek in the US needs one of these around... (Score:4, Informative)
It's a box for any electronic trash that has all the recycling and shipping fees included in its purchase price. Total price is $30 for a 35lbs capacity box, or $40 for a 70lbs capacity one. Or you can get bundles and give them away as gifts to everyone. You can throw anything from CDs to videotapes to laptops to cell phones in there. When it's full, you close it up and ship it (for "free").
Re:Dunno about Europe. (Score:3, Informative)
You lost me here.....sort waste (trash)? You don't just throw it in the garbage can, and once or twice a week, the garbagemen drive by the front of your house and empty your can and haul it all away?
Here, everything goes into the same (under-the-sink) trash can, then into a single-compartment garbage truck, to one garbage heap. It pains me everytime I have to throw away perfectly good alumim(i)um foil. As it is, trying to roll a ton of it into a big ball for recycling would only serve to make me (a) $.02 richer, and (b) a laughing-stock.
OTOH, in Austria (or at least several parts of it) you are supposed to sort your garbage into separate trash cans for organic, plastic and metal parts. Therefore, if you buy sliced ham at the butcher's, the coated paper that it comes wrapped in can easily be taken apart for separate disposal. Very nice.
Oh well
Re:Dunno about Europe. (Score:3, Informative)