How to Recycle Floppy Disks & CD Jewel Cases

Create crafts to recycle floppy disks and CD jewel cases.

If you are trying to get rid of old floppy disks and CD jewel cases, you may be able to drop them off at a specialized recycling center in your area. You can mail disks and cases to several companies that break them down into smaller pieces and recycle them into manufacturing materials. Alternatively, make a practical or artistic craft, using the pile of floppies and CD cases cluttering up your closet.

Things You'll Need

• 20 floppy disks
• Glue gun
• Square ruler
• 4 CD jewel cases
• 4 Pictures
• Ribbon
• Tea light candle

Instructions

Recycling Depots

1. Send disks and CD jewel cases to Green Disk or Alternative Community Training in Columbia, Missouri. The company will delete the content on all disks, respecting your privacy, and recycle floppies and cases into manufacturing materials. For a box of 20 pounds or less of materials, there is a service fee and shipping costs.

2. Send floppy disks and CD jewel cases to Alternative Community Training, in Columbia, Missouri. It is a non-profit organization, affiliated with Green Disk, that employs adults with disabilities. Call MRC Polymers, at 812-462-8323, in Terre Haute Indiana, to find out about their mail-in CD jewel case program.

3. Donate old CD cases to a local library or a used music store. Additionally there may be a specialized recycling depots in your area that accept disks or cases. For example, Standford University in California operates a drop-off center where you can unload your floppy disks.

Floppy Disk Supply Caddy

1. Collect 20 floppy disks to create a supply caddy for bills, pens, note paper and other office supplies, a craft idea suggested by Unplggd. This number of disks is not set in stone; it depends on how elaborate or simple you want the supply caddy to be.

2. Lay flat two rows of three floppy disks. Glue together all disk edges that are touching. Use the square ruler to ensure they are straight. These six disks form the base of the caddy.

3. Stand up disks all the way around the perimeter of the three-by-two floppy disk base. Glue them in place.

4. Decide where you would like partitions within the caddy to be. An option is to glue a row of three standing disks in the center, to divide the caddy in half. Make a section for holding pens by gluing one floppy disk perpendicularly to the center line, to create a square in one of the caddy's corners.

CD Case Candle Holder

1. Remove the black backing and labels from four CD jewel cases to start creating this candle holder designed by Make Grow Gather.

2. Print off or collect four pictures of your choice from old magazines, a digital photo collection or any other source. Cut them to the appropriate size and slide them into the CD cases. Close the cases.

3. Glue the CDs together so that they are standing up in the shape of a cube. Use a glue gun.

4. Find ribbon that matches your pictures. Cut four pieces that will fit over each of the top edges of the cases and glue them on. Cut another piece of ribbon that will wrap around the perimeter of the cube. Glue the piece all the way around the cube.

5. Place a tea light candle inside the cube. Once glue is dry, you can light the candle.

References

• Unplggd: Floppy Disks Bill Caddy
• Make Grow Gather: Jewel (Case) in the Rough
• Earth 911: Mail-Back Programs - Recycling From Home

Resources

• Green Disk
• Alternative Community Training
• Standford Recycling Drop-off Centre