Tips on Recycling CDs and DVDs

Whether you’ve decided to go digital or are simply ready to acknowledge that you just aren’t into MC Hammer anymore, there are many ways to keep your CDs and DVDs out of landfills. Before recycling, try giving away your used discs or selling them to interested buyers at the local music store or on Web sites such as eBay or Craigslist.

If your discs are in terrible condition, or if they’re just not selling, you may need to recycle your items. Here’s how:

Cover and Liner Notes: Generally, these paper products can be recycled through any municipal program that accepts paper. If you have one at home, these items can go right in with your mixed paper.

Discs and Jewel Cases:

• Discs are considered plastic #7, a catch-all category for many different kinds of products. They are not generally accepted in most community recycling programs.
• Jewel cases are plastic #6 and pose a similar recycling conundrum.

Both of these products can be disposed of, at a minimal cost, at special facilities. It is important to remember that while most of these facilities guarantee the destruction of your discs, you can also shred any discs that contain sensitive information before sending. While there are not many companies that recycle discs, some accept jewel cases, allowing for “one-stop-shop” when you ship your goods.

Two excellent resources for disc disposal are Back Thru the Future and the CD Recycling Center of America. While you pay the shipping costs, there is no recycling fee at either of these organizations. Remember to use the U.S. Postal Service’s “media rate” for the best prices. Both sites contain information on how to ship your discs and cases, and the CD Recycling Center will even provide containers for a small fee.

GreenDisk is another excellent resource for recycling discs and cases. Although the company charges a small fee for its services, it also accepts a much broader array of materials, such as phones, cords, stereo and video equipment, printer cartridges and monitors. So, if you have a whole stack of “technotrash” waiting alongside those discs, GreenDisk may be a good option.

The Recycling Process

• The polycarbonate and metals in the discs themselves are separated and reused, often as automotive or construction materials. GreenDisk is also working with innovative technology that allows old CDs and DVDs to be recycled into new ones.
• Jewel cases are also reused, though polystyrene downcycles quickly. As a result, recycled plastic from cases is used as an additive to new plastics rather than to make new products on its own. Regardless of its problematic structure, polystyrene is better placed in new products than in a landfill.