How to Recycle VHS
Your old VHS tapes are probably taking up room where you want your new DVDs to go, so recycle them. VHS isn't very popular anymore, but there are still ways to reuse those cassettes. Making the extra effort to recycle them will eliminate the overwhelming guilt you'd feel if you just tossed a hunk of non-biodegradable mass with Ferris Bueller's face on it into a landfill. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Freecycle those videos. Teachers, preachers and librarians all love Freecycle because they work on a tight budget and often need materials for their jobs that they pay for out-of-pocket. Lots of people could easily make use of your VHS tapes if you just put them out there. And unlike eBay, this is free to use so if it doesn't work, you haven't risked a thing.
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Donate your VHS tapes to a local library. Call ahead and ask if they're interested in your titles. If they're not interested, the Salvation Army always accepts donations of any kind.
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Try donating them for a specific cause. The Conservative Caucus in Vienna, Virginia, accepts old VHS tapes, as does Alternative Community Training in Columbia, Missouri. Ecoencore accepts VHS tapes that are instructional, exercise videos or rare/older films.
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Sell them if you can. The nationalrecycling.com website buys plastics, and Carpel Video in Maryland and Al's Tape and Film in New Jersey purchase videos. Chances are, there's a video store in your area willing to purchase used VHS tapes. You probably won't get much for them, but you were going to throw them out anyway.
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Do something with the leftover plastic video cases if you have any hanging around. Recycle the cardboard inserts and then reuse the box. These cases make great pencil boxes or neat waterproof cases for camping and other outdoor activities. Or you can decorate the box to create a neat gift box, glue the boxes shut and let kids use them as blocks or paint them to create dominoes, or even use them to cover books when you travel.
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Comments
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hezalou
Apr 21, 2010
Just FYI: I'm a librarian who is getting rid of my library's VHS collection. Chances are not good that your local library wants VHS tapes -- they are pretty much obsolete at this point -- so definitely call beforehand. Contrary to popular belief, librarians are *not* usually thrilled when you drop off a box of unwanted materials.
