Ask the EcoGeek: Recycling CDs
by EcoGeek.org on 06.28.07
Dear EcoGeek,
Is it possible to recycle old CD's or DVD's?
Thanks,
Rob
The perpetual scourge of EcoGeekiness is obsolescence. We pay good money for what we see as a good product, and then five years down the line we're surrounded by useless junk!
But I can't help but answer this seemingly straightforward question with several different answers.
First, I'll actually answer the question:
Yes, you can, but it's not as simple as curbside pickup. CDs and DVDs do contain valuable materials (CDRs even sometimes contain gold) and there are techniques to harvest that material for reuse, but those same materials make them too complicated for regular recycling centers. Unfortunately, the materials aren't expensive enough that someone will pay for them. To recycle CDs you'll have to ship them to a special recycling center. Several are listed at the bottom of this post.
Second, Destroy the Data
Whenever you're trashing something that might contain personal data, always take the time to wipe it clean. For CDs, this can be accomplished with gloved hands, scissors, a hole puncher or, for a more entertaining (and dangerous) destruction, microwave on high for two seconds.
Third, Dubious Re-Use:
The internet is littered with cheesy ways to reuse old CDs. Give people lemons and they'll make coasters, disco balls, clocks and maybe even miniature hover-craft. However, this isn't really helping anyone. At the very least, it's delaying the landfill for another few years. It's fun to play with trash, but this kind of re-use doesn't make much environmental sense.
Forth, Stop the Cycle
As with any article about obsolete materials, we'd be fools not to mention how evil forced obsolescence is. The good news is, nowadays we don't need to buy physical objects anymore. We can download pretty much everything we need straight to our hard drive, consume it, and throw it into the virtual trash can on our desktop. Whenever you can, go digital. But avoid the temptation to burn all your files to DVD. You'll just be staring at them in five years wondering what the heck you're going to do with all those coasters.
CD Recycling Services in the US
NESAR Systems
420 Ashwood Road
Darlington, PA 16115
(724) 827-8172
Digital Audio Disk Corporation
Attention: Disc Recycling Program
1800 Fruitridge Avenue
Terre Haute, IN 47804-1788
Telephone (812) 462-8323
And in the UK
The Laundry CD Recycling
Lauren Dean
London Recycling
4d North Crescent
Cody Road
London
E16 4TG
Ask the EcoGeek is a column provided by EcoGeek.org. If you've got a clean technology question for the ecogeek, you can email him at ecogeek@ecogeek.org.
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i just recorded my first album with Acoustic Chatter and we had the cds pressed and packaged in environmentally friendly "eco-wallets" which are fully biodegradable instead of plastic jewel cases. it cost more than regular cases but hey, being good to the earth sometimes costs money. Bonus, if you dont like the music you can compost it and grow tomatoes :)
I just recorded my first album with Acoustic Chatter and we packaged the cds in environmentally friendly "eco-wallets" which are fully biodegradable and recyclable. it cost more than plastic jewel cases but it usually costs more to be good to the earth. bonus: if you dont like the music you can compost it and grow tomatoes :) We do also encourage digital downloads as an alternative wherever possible.
Cut CD in half.
Drill nail holes.
Use as roofing shingle.
At last a use for all those AOL CDs.
GreenDisk offers recycling of all kinds of "techno-trash", including CDs, video and audio tapes, their cases, cell phones etc. Great resource, cheap and convenient:
http://www.greendisk.com/
if you're going to recycle the cds. find a place that will recycle them locally. no need to have the cd shipped to far to have them recycled.
http://www.nomoreaolcds.com/
You can also send to:
CD Recycling Center
68H Stiles Rd.
Salem, NH 09079
www.cdrecyclingcenter.com
You might also check with some local agencies. for the bay area you can visit www.stopwaste.org and there's actually a place in Berkeley that will take them for free!
Does anyone know of any places that will recycle CDs outside of the US and UK? Say, for example, Australia?
For those of you who live A) in Seattle and B) are near the UW, you can recycle CD's, batteries, cell phones, etc. on campus! Fabulous.
http://www.thedaily.washington.edu/article/2007/5/16/uwEmediaRecyclingProgramMakesDisposalOfHazardousElectronicsEasy
Anyone know places in Canada?
GreenDisk costs money to recycle.
You can your unwanted CDs and DVDs for free to these people:
http://www.cdrecyclingcenter.org/