Recycling floppy disks

[Morrisette]

I've posted this query in 'another place' but thought I would spread my net a little wider 

Does anyone know a company that does this? I have about 150 floppy disks of various ages to dispose of, and it seems to me that all the materials they are made of can be recycled if taken to the tip/recycle centre separately. I've had a quick google but didn't come up with anywhere in the UK.

My company won't pay for it either, so it would have to be a free service

Any ideas??

[nuttycyclist]

<looks at desk>

Coffee mug mat?

[vorsprung]

They are made of plastic so I would guess that they are impossible/expensive to recycle

[nuttycyclist]

They are made of plastic so I would guess that they are impossible/expensive to recycle

My local council collects plastic as part of the generic recycling.

If I wanted to get rid of floppy discs I'd just dump them in the same sack as my beer cans, paper, card, other plastic.  The sack itself is made of recycled plastic (as the council was pleased to point out).

[border-rider]

The cases might be worth recycling if you could break them all open.  As complete items I doubt they're recyclable.  And even that depends on the plastic they're made of. 

[nuttycyclist]

I've just been doing some digging.

The "floppy disc" could be mylar - a polyester.  ->  fleece jackets made of recycled polyester

The outer case could be PVC - which is again recycleable.



sources:
How floppy disk is made - Background, Raw materials, The manufacturing process of floppy disk, Quality control
Sustainable development

[Lucky]

The "floppy disc" could be mylar - a polyester.  ->  fleece jackets made of recycled polyester

The disk itself will most likely be mylar, as you say, but the ferric oxide coating on each side, plus the attached steel spindle, may well make it uneconomical to recycle.

The outer case could be PVC - which is again recycleable.

On a 5 1/4" floppy disk, yes. On a 3.5" disk, the case is a harder plastic, possibly PE, PP, PS, or something similar, which should be recyclable.

The metal clip and the spring that pushes it closed will be two different steels.


My guess is you'd be lucky to find anywhere that'll take the disks whole, but if you can be bothered to take the disks to pieces, you may be able to recycle some of the parts.

[rogerzilla]

Swindon Council will take plastic bottles (without caps).  No tubs, no pots, no trays, no other plastic 

They will now pick up green waste for nothing (they shred it and compost it, then sell the compost) which is a big woo, since we used to have to burn all the twiggy prunings (which don't compost unless you have a shredder).

[nuttycyclist]

...
My guess is you'd be lucky to find anywhere that'll take the disks whole, but if you can be bothered to take the disks to pieces, you may be able to recycle some of the parts.

All our recycling goes in one sack, and processed* elsewhere.  As such I assume they have some big shredder and sorting machine to deal with the unpacking the bags - so I wouldn't find a problem with dumping a whole disc in the bag.






* or dumped in landfill behind our back 

[starkj73]

Swindon Council will take plastic bottles (without caps). 

Does that mean you should remove the collar that is made of the same material?