Recycling video tapes

clearchalk

Haven't seen many updates of this thread for a while.

Got a few tapes to dispose of prerecorded and home tapes, had a google round and not many options to dipose of them. Some councils have schemes for this but ours doesn't. Don't want to send them to the landfill, what other options are there?

split_second

are any of them blank tapes with stuff recorded off the tv etc?

if so get them on ebay, people that want old ad footage will buy them by the boxfull, look at some existing ads to make sure you advertise correctly

xtinataguba

my aunt has a lot of vhs tapes, and we also find it hard to dispose it. thank you for the idea about ebay,

Katiehound

I had a load but I'm afraid they went to the tip- however they went in the rigid plastic bin where the items are crushed and used for something.....not landfill is all I can say!
I had a few new ones (unopened) which a small charity shop took.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

the problem with video tapes, is that there are diff types of plastic, metal etc inside them, and to be able to recycle them properly they need to be stripped down to their individual components, which is totally uneconomical, compared to the recycle value for each part.

Please do not put them into the hard plastic recycling bins etc, as in most places, once something like this goes into them the whole lot is rejected...

kittycatface

quick search found an old thread, dunno if any of the links are still viable.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/269719

plenty of uses for the tape: bird scarers, tying plants to bamboo canes, fake hair for kids craft projects, modern art style ribbon for present wrapping but the plastic casing is flummoxing me.

might be worth contacting your local recycling contractor by phone: the ones who run the recycling sorting plant are not always same company as the binmen.
mine has a recycling specialist who loves nothing more than a discussion about what to do with waste items. or else the councils own recycling officer, part of whose job is to write a directory of what can be recycled where.