By John DeFore

Of all the plastics in our homes, one category may not even register with consumers as something that can be recycled: the CD/DVD. Some of us collect hundreds, even thousands, of the shiny little platters, and depending on how careful we are with them, we can find ourselves with scratched, unplayable discs on our hands. In the age of home-burnable discs (which are more easily damaged than factory-recorded ones), we also often find ourselves with CD- or DVD-Rs full of outdated or unwanted computer data.

These discs aren’t imprinted with the recycling logo, though, and almost certainly aren’t accepted in your city’s recycling program. That doesn’t mean they can’t be recycled; you just have to go out of your way to do it.

For just over a year, the Compact Disc Recycling Center has been turning junk discs into raw material for auto parts and building supplies. They’ll accept everything from an envelope containing a single Mariah Carey CD to a truck full of AOL software-install promos, and they don’t charge a penny to do it. They’ll also take the discs’ packaging — plastic “jewel cases,” paper sleeves, and the like — although they ask that users separate the various components before shipping.

The organization devotes a page of its web site to instructions for everyone from individuals to large corporations, including ideas for school- or library-based recycling drives. The Center doesn’t yet have enough sponsors that it can pay for shipping costs, but it does note that discs are eligible for the US postal system’s low “Media Mail” rate.

The center’s organizers realize that most consumers don’t throw away discs often enough to worry much about recycling them, but it hopes that eco-conscious folks will make their preferences known at their local music and video stores, where recycling can have a big impact. After all, where do you think all those “guaranteed to be in stock” new releases go after a few months, when the store doesn’t need thirty copies of last summer’s action film to meet demand?

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media