Recycling Electronic Media

In our modern electronic age, disposing of old electronics and media items such as CDs and DVDs has become a challenge. When done properly these can yield many reusable materials. Here are some suggestions for recycling your electronic media.

The University of California, Davis collect CDs so that their reprocessors can extract the 20mg of gold found on the recordable versions. Their R4 recycling program also suggests imaginative ways to ‘reuse’ CDs. Such as scarecrows for the garden patch, as coasters, Christmas tree decorations, letterbox markers or even as mosaics to make a disco ball. We also came across a DIY enthusiast, who uses 300 disks to make 4' x 8' solar concentrator to boost solar panel output!

However with your business needs, you might try GreenDisk, who have long dealt with software publishers to recover their obsolete software. They partner with non-profit agencies with recycling centers who create jobs for workers with disabilities. Seems the CDs and CD cases are ground and reprocessed into products like CD holders and other office goods.

Q&A. Recycling Electronic Media (TreeHugger)