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Can CDs Be Recycled?
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?"
and if you're drunk, try goin' at one with a metal file and making ninja stars.
How we know is more important than what we know.
But only if they're RW.
[Insert pithy quote here]
Here in Europe, CDs are collected for recycling.
Yes, you can recycle your cds. There's a list of places that offer cd recycling on recyclenow - http://www.recyclenow.com/what_more_can_i_do/can_i t_be_recycled/compact_discs.html
This post will enter the public domain 70 years after my death, unless Disney buys another extension.
It would be cool if thinkgeek or someone made cds that were 120mm wide, but they only used the 1st 80mm, like mini cds, and they had 20mm ninja star spikes or something. That may you could store your top secret ninja plans and kill pirates at the SAME TIME!
While this is not a way to recycle CD's, it is fun and will destroy the data on it permanently. Put one data side up in the microwave and run it for 2-4 seconds on high and watch the light show. (I wouldn't suggest doing this in a microwave you like, it *seems* to do no damage to the microwave but I can't be sure)
Supplies!
Maybe the CDs are unreadable now, but who knows in the future. Future archaeologists may one day discover the thick fossilized layer of AOL trial CDs that we have deposited and somehow be able extract the data, or even use them to fuel their flying cars.
Here in Denmark, they're not.
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.
"Good news, everyone!"
Depending upon what CD it is, and who the manufacturer is, you may be able to reclaim the license or a replacement CD. For example, you can do this with PowerDVD if you lose the license or the CD is damaged. Even if the software is not worth anything to you, it may be to someone else. If any of the CDs are for software of some original/current value, it may be worth taking the time to look into this. You could sell them on eBay for an earner.
Shiny but useless CDs can be very useful for artists who need sparklies. Try sticking them up on your local Freecycle or Craigslist as a freebie, someone out there may be willing to take them off your hands.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
If you live in Silicon Valley, you can check http://www.recyclestuff.org/.
1. You can make mobiles for a baby - nice interesting colours one side, shiny reflections the other. Get half a dozen hanging up on a coathanger arrangement and you have one happy baby.
2. Cover your walls in them. Either side will do. Good for students but abit sad for anyone else. Great for the 1960's Sci-Fi retro look though.
3. Put them at the bottom of a fish pond. Nice reflections in the sun. Probably annoys the hell out the fish though.
(Somewhat more 'out there' ones)
4. Put them on your hub caps for extra bling.
5. Dazzle muggers
6. That trick with microwave ovens.
7. balance furniture on uneven floors.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the AOL Throne yet.
A few years back I had an "unwise microwave oven experiments" party. Large, powerful old microwave that was headed for the dumpster and a keg of beer, everybody brings something to microwave.
The laptop backlight and 10" fluorescent tube were... bright. Like, searchlight bright. And strangely enough some of the most interesting effects were done with food, like split grapes and an unopened bag of marshmallows. We never achieved a stable plasma (we made some that lasted a few seconds, though) mostly because of the diffculty in controlling air currents.
Anyway, we fried a lot of CDs, because they look tres cool in the microwave. My buddy Pete and I each got a slight whiff of the vapor produced by this (we were outside at the time) and it was a week or so before we stopped feeling the effects.
Depends on the type of throwing star I guess. I immediately envisaged a six-pointed hira shuriken where the thin "necks" would be highly vulnerable. I guess with four-points it probably wouldn't be an issue.
Oh God am I really having a serious conversation about the structural integrity of throwing-star shaped CDs?
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Yes.
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.
In many cases they will be reuse and donation centers, or something like ACT; 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.
Mill Avenue Vexations
Surely searching for 'cd recycling' would have resulted in an answer to this question.
Salut,
Jacques
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").
If that wasn't the case, I'm pretty sure it's a hoax. Why? Because commercial CDs aren't like CD-R/RW; the latter have crystalline layers that respond to heating changes from the laser to form reflective/non-reflective areas, the former are actually *stamped* with 3D pits and lands.
Both reflect/deflect the reading laser beam in the same way (in most players), so the discs can be read in the same machines. However, there's no way you're going to *change* the contents of a stamped CD in anything like the same manner as you would with a CD-R. It's about as likely as a floppy disk drive's magnetic head being able to rewrite the grooves of a 7" vinyl single.
In fact, you'd actually have to (somehow) melt or reconfigure the plastic of the CD itself, and since it was never designed for this, I've no idea how you'd do it accurately. It would likely be a horrifically expensive (and pointless) lab curiosity at best, and no-one in their right mind would try to market it in the face of CD-R.
Hoax, hoax, hoaxy hoax....
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