Recycling VHS tapes

I would like to know this too

Don't know the answer re the recycling bit, but could you perhaps advertise them on freecycle or in the free ads of your local Trade-it or equivalent? Not everyone has DVD recorders yet (me included) and you may find someone would be grateful for some extra tapes. I got some from a chap at work who advertised them on the electronic noticeboard. Most of them were a bit knackered, but a couple came in hand for recording Corrie etc.

I had to throw about 50 into landfill last year because the man said they can't be recycled☹️

Freecycling sounds interesting. How does it work?

Bump ?

We have 600 to get rid of, and it's a complete nightmare. Charity shops refuse to take them these days, as no-one wants to buy them any more (you may get lucky on Freecycle, but unlikely for the same reasons).

Apparently you can sort of recycle them by removing the paper sleeve, putting the plastic box in the plastic area of your council recycling centre, and chucking the tape itself in landfill, but with the 600 we have, that's going to be more than a slight ballache....!

There is some company up north that recycles them, but you have to pay them to do so.

People on the MSE site have suggested taking them to hospitals or day centres etc, but TBH, with hygiene rules, and DVD players and DVDs being so cheap these days, I think that's not going to be a fruitful route either.

So basically, landfill ☹️

I'd happily take them of you all for P&P - though 600 may be expensive!! We've started a new project using waste materials and are happy for anything!

Sounds good to me. I really don't want to send them to a landfill.

How do you propose we go about it? I have a lot less than 600 to dispose of. More like 20 or so.

Sofianna I'm really sorry about this! Forgot I posted... actually I just tried to mail you and cant find anywhere on your profile that lets me... can you mail me through my profile?

Hi Eric, I tried messaging you but got an error message back, and the email link doesn't work. ?

Are you even still interested in the tapes? I know some time has gone by now...

Another vote for freecycling them here - we got rid of about 0 to a guy who transfers home movies onto these for nothing, for fun, but obviously he needs tapes.

Freecycle I think is a yahoo group, not sure if you need to start with a yahoo address. God I'm really sorry, I can't quite remember. But basically you post something along the lines of : Offer: 50 VHS tapes: Queen's Park and then you get some replies, if you're lucky you get them without sob stories, and you decide who to give them to. And then they come round to your house and you wave bye bye to your junk.

Sounds straightforward enough. I might give it a try if I don't manage to get in touch with Eric!

I always buy VHS videos from the charity shop. I have a really good B&O video player, which is nearly as good as DVD in terms of playback quality - it was only made in 2004, and was one of the last ever made. It's much cheaper to buy a 49p video from the charity shop that a £10 DVD! I doubt a charity shop would take home-recorded videos but they still seem to welcome pre-recorded ones. I rarely watch films anyway, so this works fine for me!