Recycling VHS tapes: Any suggestions?

[CassidyAce]

Spending some time on the unhappy task of sorting out my late father's stuff and there are a lot of old VHS tapes. Charity shops don't want them, I don't want them just to go into landfill, and the only recycling option I can find will cost about £240 to recycle the quantity involved (TerraCycle). Google isn't helping much so I thought I'd try word of mouth: has anyone found a better/cheaper recycling option for VHS tapes? Cheers

 

[dazdc5]

Re:

Nope .. mine went down the tip, along with a ton of audio cassettes. You struggle to sell off DVD's now too as everyone has Netflix or similar, so there is no need to 'own' the material.

 

[SEANSTEPHENS]

Re:

Black plastic is coloured using carbon pigments hence why it isn't widely recyclable. If there's a bunch of classic films there, then id be tempted to keep them with a VCR. anything you don't keep will probably end up at the landfill I'm afraid

 

[CassidyAce]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't optimistic about finding a solution other than TerraCycle but it was worth a try.

 

[MR OX]

Re:

There are people who are into vcrs who may have an interest, most tend to be after taped from the television stuff (they like the adverts) but facebook groups like electrotat might be worth a try

 

[CassidyAce]

OK. Thank you. I'll look into that. I never thought the adverts might be the attraction.

 

[torqueless]

Re:

Spending some time on the unhappy task of sorting out my late father's stuff

Unhappy because your Dad died, or because he left behind a chaos of non-bio-degradable consumer tat?
I can sympathise… I'm in the same boat atm. Unless I unearth any more, I have precisely five VHS tapes to 'dispose' of... but then there were the twenty pairs of prescription spectacles, the shed full of toxic garden chemicals, seven electric shavers, thirty pairs of underwear, about a hundred pens and pencils, gang sockets, plug-in timers, clocks, thermometers, torches...…………………..,,,...………

The genie is well and truly out of the bottle.. let's face it, all this stuff is on the way to being 'micro plastic pollution' one way or another. That's what you get from a fifty-year consumer party run on fossil fuels..

Reduce, re-use, re-cycle. That is in order of priority. Recycling is pissing in the wind if we cannot reduce production and consumption, and it is obvious that we cannot. It is systemically ordained.

 

[greencat]

Sorry for your loss. Have you tried asking your local council tip if they have recycling facilities? Some house clearance companies might take them with the rest.

Otherwise I concur with the others. Thankfully, I only have two VHS cassettes which I'm keeping for nostalgia purposes. My suspicion is that VHS will eventually become desirable again in niche retro circles, like vinyl.

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

Spending some time on the unhappy task of sorting out my late father's stuff

Unhappy because your Dad died, or because he left behind a chaos of non-bio-degradable consumer tat?

Mainly the former but ultimately both.

. . .but then there were the twenty pairs of prescription spectacles, the shed full of toxic garden chemicals, seven electric shavers, thirty pairs of underwear, about a hundred pens and pencils, gang sockets, plug-in timers, clocks, thermometers, torches...…………………..,,,...………

The genie is well and truly out of the bottle.. let's face it, all this stuff is on the way to being 'micro plastic pollution' one way or another. That's what you get from a fifty-year consumer party run on fossil fuels..

Reduce, re-use, re-cycle. That is in order of priority. Recycling is pissing in the wind if we cannot reduce production and consumption, and it is obvious that we cannot. It is systemically ordained.

Oh yes. I've done the paint tins, the garden chemicals, etc. and completely agree with the rest of what you've said. I'm looking at well over a hundred VHS tapes and I just don't like the idea of part of his legacy being a patch of poisoned earth.

Sorry for your loss. Have you tried asking your local council tip if they have recycling facilities? Some house clearance companies might take them with the rest.

Otherwise I concur with the others. Thankfully, I only have two VHS cassettes which I'm keeping for nostalgia purposes. My suspicion is that VHS will eventually become desirable again in niche retro circles, like vinyl.

Thank you. I've enquired: the local council doesn't recycle VHS cassettes. However, holding on to some of them until they become antiques could be worth considering - definitely worth bearing in mind.

 

[dawson]

Re: Re:

There are people who are into vcrs who may have https://usbsolarlights.com/best-solar-path-lights, most tend to be after taped from the television stuff (they like the adverts) but facebook groups like electrotat might be worth a try

I'm into this stuff.