How do I recycle floppy and Zip disks?

November 14, 2004 2:12 PM

Recycling question - I'm currently trying to minimize my life, and I've been selling used books & music on amazon, and random stuff on ebay, donating things to goodwill, and giving away things to friends and family who would make much better use of them. Well, I have a bunch of used (blank/formatted) floppy & 100MB zip discs that I feel bad throwing away, as they're perfectly good, but I have no use for them anymore. I've looked around online to see if there's anywhere I could mail them for recycling, but I came up with nothing. Does anyone know of a program like this that exists? Or, does anyone need a bunch of floppy & zip discs?
posted by AlisonM to computers & internet (8 comments total)

I would check to see if there's a chapter of Freecycle near you.
posted by ferociouskitty at 2:15 PM on November 14, 2004

I sent a bunch of floppies to Greendisk.
posted by JanetLand at 2:21 PM on November 14, 2004

Freecycle would be my first choice for someone local who could use them. Otherwise, if you're at the end of your rope, my library would gladly take them since we give out [or sell, presently] disks for patrons who use the public access computers, and we do have a few that have ZIP drives in them.Try local methods first but if you're still looking, drop me a line.
posted by jessamyn at 3:27 PM on November 14, 2004

Maybe try calling your local schools to see if they use them still and would like some donated. Additionally you could try local non-profit or government offices.

pwb.
posted by pwb503 at 3:29 PM on November 14, 2004

If there's no Freecycle, does your area have a Craigslist or similar web-based announcement board? We've had great luck getting rid of things with a "Box of mismatched socks (clean) in the alley on the corner of Easy St. and Mockingbird Lane. Free, come get them" post. And then you get to watch out the window to see what kind of people travel for a box of mismatched socks.
posted by jennyb at 4:53 PM on November 14, 2004

I'll second craigslist 'free' section. Its usually very active.

How about an old fashioned garage/yard sale? Charge some nominal fee to make up for all the trouble you went through.

The downside is that most people dont want floppies or zips. These disks just go bad with age. Even if they are in the original packag, that doesnt mean they're any good. Also, a bad sector or a cheesy floppy drive could mean the difference between a good disk and garbage.

Dont feel bad about throwing them out if you have to.
posted by skallas at 5:14 PM on November 14, 2004

Look at the prices for floppies nowadays (about a quarter each), and then throw them out.
posted by smackfu at 5:36 PM on November 14, 2004

Disk recycling.
posted by stopgap at 6:12 PM on November 14, 2004