Recycling DVDs or donating to people who don't recycle?

[CathyA]

I have some DVDs we don't want anymore. I have a plastic recycling place that takes them. Yes, I could donate them to Goodwill, but then the chances of them being thrown out rather than being recycled are pretty great.
So I think I'm going to recycle them. It is a philosophical dilemma.........but if I just recycle them, I'm sure they're not going to end up in the earth. Thankfully, we don't really buy them any more because of Netflix and streaming possibilities.
What would you do? Just donating them and hoping for the best, IMHO, is not the thing to do.....unless you could control what is done with them in the end.

[Ultralight]

CathyA:

I am a big advocate of "making peace" with having purchased things we no longer want.

Sometimes it is because we totally made a mistake buying them. Sometimes it is because we bought them, used them up, and simply no longer have use for them.

This second thing seems more like your situation.

If it were me, I would donate them and hope for the best.

How easy is it to recycle them? Do you drop them in a box and the city picks them up? Do you have to drive really far to a recycling facility?

[CathyA]

Thanks UA...........I would feel better driving 30 miles and using some petrol, than the thinking that all these DVDs and their cases are going into the ground.
I am fortunate, that about 30 miles from here is a special plastics recycling place. I drive them there........along with CDs, jewel cases, VHS tapes.

[sweetana3]

I donate all my books, DVDs, intact magazines and such to our local library. We have huge sales 5 times a year where they make money for the library foundation. I just have to remember not to buy them all back. Almost all libraries are short of funds and looking for ways to make money. Many have a sale area or a sale date where they can get rid of older items from their collection and donated items.

Found out they also want jewel cases since they are so often damaged in the normal library use.

[CathyA]

Yes, I know donating is a good thing, but in this area, they would still end up in the earth. :(

[JaneV2.0]

My library system is apparently so flush with money that they don't need free jewel cases, which I found out trying to donate a bunch. I ended up freecycling them.

[CathyA]

I'm starting to take my books to Goodwill. For years, I had been taking them to our local library........but they get overwhelmed with them. They have a big book sale in September, but I know they can get overwhelmed by all the ones that come in. I don't like getting a look of "Oh dangit.........more books."
I started taking all my donations of clothes and household goods to Goodwill recently. We have a local Help center that gives lots of stuff to less fortunate people. I used to just take my stuff there. But they are packed to the gills with stuff, and when I would walk in there with more bags-o-crap, they would look at me like they'd like to kill me. hahaha I guess that speaks to our excess?

[SteveinMN]

I would bring them to Goodwill. After all, isn't it "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"? By recycling them yourself, you're denying others the opportunity to reuse and buy some cheap DVDs that benefit GW for the selling and them for at least watching the movie. And I'm not sure any of us can say that the second buyers won't just give 'em back to Goodwilll.

Just my $.02.

[Aqua Blue]

I'd vote with Steve. Reuse is always better than recycle in my opinion, since I enjoy a lot of the DVDs I have bought at our local thrift store. My all time favorite is the complete series of Inspector Lewis, I have rewatched it every Jan for the last 3-4 years. If they end up being something I don't want I give them back to be sold again. Just in chatting with patrons of the thrift store at the donation door I think that happens a lot. Many of us are very conscious of the amount of stuff going to landfills(especially packaging), it is some of the reason we frequent thrift stores in the first place. I actually had this conversation with someone the last time I donated.

[Ultralight]

Beware the matchmaker quagmire!

[Chicken lady]

Also, if they buy your used cd, they don't buy a new cd instead. And if they are non-recyclers, that new cd plus packaging would be going in the landfill. Overall I think it's better to leave the oil you're burning in the ground and add a slight net increase in buried CDs.

I'd guess one cd bought and donated several times and then land filled is better for the environment than 4 or 5 cd's manufactured, watched, and recycled. "Recycled" usually means "downcycled". I don't think your cd becomes a new cd.

[ToomuchStuff]

Reducing is the most effective method.
I remember there are some plastics that are more complicated to recycle (to the point that a lot of places didn't, wasn't cost effective).
A quick search showed they are a plastic that most local places cannot handle, but I found this:
http://www.popsugar.com/tech/How-Recycle-CDs-DVDs-Jewel-Cases-22018950
I know even recycle places pitch stuff for various reasons (surplus, market dropped, etc).

Wondering outloud about putting them in a Little library thing on the street?

[Ultralight]

Reducing is the most effective method.

Yes!

[jp1]

And also, I know people really really want to recycle. But everyone driving out to the landfill or recycling center is a whole lot of wasted resources. With the low cost of oil today most of the recycling facilities are either not making, or barely making, a profit. And that's with the efficiency of curbside pickup. Each person driving that crap out there magnifies the wasted resources.

That dvd didn't take much resources to create. That's why it's worthless now. Don't add to it's ingested resources by spending half a gallon of gas taking it to a landfill to throw it away. Honestly, if you can't find someone close at had who wants to watch it, you'd be better just burying it in your yard.

[freshstart]

I would ask the library about specific titles before giving up on them altogether. My library actually put my used children's DVDs and computer/Nintendo games into circulation so they had more copies of popular titles. What they didn't want, they said would sell well at the book sales and they kept them. It's the idiots who drop off at the door at night full sets of ancient encyclopedias that drive them nuts.

It's not like you are trying to get rid of VHS tapes, DVDs are still used. I love the Little Library idea.

[JaneV2.0]

Future generations will mine our landfills for resources or archaeological purposes--probably both. I'd donate the DVDs with the hope that they would bring pleasure to people who would also recycle them. I wouldn't waste a lot of time worrying about things that might never come to pass.

[ToomuchStuff]

Future generations will mine our landfills for resources or archaeological purposes--probably both.


Do you bring this up because of the Atari 2600 ET cartridges?

[JaneV2.0]

Do you bring this up because of the Atari 2600 ET cartridges?

No. Hahaha! But I'm the spawn of a couple of generations of collectors, so I'm familiar with the thrill of the hunt.