# Recycling/giving away cassette videotapes -- is there a use for them?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 29, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234 "2006-11-29T19:33:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234/1 "2006-11-29T19:33:01Z")

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We have a bunch of old videocassettes we want to get rid of. They’re of mixed manufacture and quality; mostly sporting old TV programs. It’s a sizable pile of around 30-40 tapes.

Shouold I just throw them into the landfill? Or is there somewhere they would be useful to someone? Would the library be interested in them? Volunteer organizations? I wouldn’t want to just burden them with trash, but if they would use these old-but-still-recordable cassettes, it beats wasting them.

If you have any ideas or experiences to pass on, please let me know. 🙂

Sailboat

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**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234/2 "2006-11-29T20:03:14Z")

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Video cassettes are both plentiful and obsolete. They also degrade with time and use, and it sounds like yours have plenty of both. I’d be very surprised if there’s still any real demand for them anymore, even for free. Good on you for trying, though.

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**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234/3 "2006-11-29T20:07:10Z")

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Put a free ad in a paper of what you have and whats on them- chances are someone has similar interests and tastes as yours and would love to take them off you hands, if nothing else for the ability to re-record over them. Some of us still haven’t upgraded to DVR’s yet 😉

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234/4 "2006-11-30T02:19:33Z")

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Post them on [Freecycle](http://www.freecycle.org). It’s a good way to give away just about anything.

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**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycling-giving-away-cassette-videotapes-is-there-a-use-for-them/382234/5 "2006-11-30T02:43:37Z")

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yard sale, rehab hospitals, va hospitals, etc.

i was able to send quite a few of mine to the military for va hospitals.