Just have a question about what to do w/ old, blank VHS tapes. We have boxes of them that my husband used to stock up on whenever they were on sale--he would tape TV shows that interested him, but then we got a DVD player; then AD took over. and we have no use for these tapes. Does anyone know how I can safely dispose of them?
How about giving them to a church for their rummage sale, or a neighbour who is having a garage sale? Would high schools still use them? I still tape TV shows on my old VHS player, and given a choice will choose a VHS over a DVD at a video store. I find them handier.
I had a bunch of old tapes that I had recorded from TV - shows I wanted to watch again - and some were from the 1980s...I just put them out with my trash. There were a few new ones that had not been used. If they are professionally recorded movies that you bought, you will still have a hard time trying to find anyone who will want them.
I have mine and I bought a spare VHS player to have when my present one dies, because I don't want to have to replace those movies with DVDs!!! <grin>
I have a 15 year old RCA console TV that I can't GIVE away!! No one will take it! Not the Salvation Army, Goodwill, ARC, Boys and Girls Ranch...AAARRRRGGGHHHH! I'm thinking of putting it on the curb and hope someone takes it. That is what has happened with some bookcases and an old recliner.....<grin>
Some years ago, after a yard sale, we put a lot of the unsold "junk" on the curb for the trash pick-up. We were quite surprised in the early morning to see one of our daughter's high school teachers going through the junk and taking most of it. Turned out he was the drama coach at the school and was looking for things to use as props in upcoming plays.
You can still find people very happy to get them if you advertise them in your local group of www.freecycle.org or in the free section of Craig's list.
They also recylce them. I know there is a place in Vanc.., Wa that recyles them - separates the tape and plastic. I would assume there are other cities that do the same. Check with your local recylers (if you have one) or waste management.
A lot of the old tapes get brittle with time and might not be usable. But I too recommend freecycle.com if you have a site in your area. I use it all the time. People take almost anything. I've gotten rid of math books and a "thunder sheet" - big sheet of aluminum you rattle to make thunder in the theater. And all kinds of other things. Lacking that, you abandon them curbside 24 hours before the trash comes - you'd be amazed how often people will stop to collect.
Many years ago our town started an annual Free Trash Pickup Day, when you could dump absolutely anything out. Cars lined up on the streets to go through everyone's junk and most of it disappeared long before the pickup day.
There was a program on one of the cable channels called 'Junk Raiders'. their job was to raid the garbage set out on the streets of Toronto and build a high class apartment for some rich guy. the apartment was for visiting businessman/enterapreneurs to stay in. They had a couple thousand in cash to buy stuff with but the rest had to be junk. It was very interesting. They made some neat chairs out of shopping carts. IN the end the rich guy who hired them did not like it and they had to tear it out but it was in interesting project to prove 'one man's junk is another man's treasure'. There use to be another program - can't remember the name - where they would pick up some broken piece of furniture or applicance, take it to their shop, make something out of it and leave it back on their doorstep. Wonder how many people appreciated getting their 'junk' they had thrown out back?
I recently bought a used video machine on ebay because I have so many tapes (mostly televised classical music and opera) and I am absolutely planning to look at each one, decide whether to discard or transfer to DVD. I just need to get motivated to do this. A good winter activity.