Invented and made commercially available in the early eighties, CD’s have been the main medium for audio for nearly 30 years. Are they still necessary today?
Made from polycarbonate plastic by the billion each year, do we really need to continue to produce CD’s? What can we do with CD’s when we don’t want them any more? And where can we recycle them if they are unusable?
Well the short answer to whether or not we need to continue to produce them is NO! We have many other methods of storing our media. The CD has limited capacity and becomes especially inadequate as our demand for higher quality media continues. We demand more mega pixels, higher bit rate, greater bandwidth, and bigger storage, the CD can’t keep up. The CD has done very well to survive the last decade, it has had to compete with digital downloads, MP3 players (in particular the iPod) and as a storage capacity the USB flash drive.
CD’s or Compact Discs aren’t really that compact anymore either. When compared in physical size and data storage capacity to SD and XD cards and even USB pen drives they don’t even compare. Also CD’s are easily damaged. Even if they are kept on a soft bed of velvet for their whole lifetime, they still manage to become scratched and skip in the CD player.
REDUCE
Bearing all this in mind I decided a long time ago not to buy CD’s anymore and avoid them. I kept hold of the CD’s I already had collected over the years but recently decided enough was enough – they are going.
REUSE
The first thing I did was put all of my CD’s, that were not already, on to my computer. Then the ones that were in good condition, I took to two local charity shops, the British Red Cross and Save the Children. Someone else might appreciate Will Smith’s – Big Willie Style (obviously after I had copied it on to my computer first). The ones that were scratched or missing I decided to recycle.
RECYCLE
I found a great company called Polymer Recycling Ltd. (And before you ask, I do not have any affiliation with them, I just think they do a good service.)
Here’s what they say:
“[Polymer Recycling Ltd] offers a method of DVD, CD and CD-Rom destruction that recycles 100% of the compact disc, jewel case and packaging without the use of chemicals, in a totally secure environment.”
So I boxed them up and sent them to be recycled. Job done, space cleared, rid of the CD.
Jamie
Made from polycarbonate plastic by the billion each year, do we really need to continue to produce CD’s? What can we do with CD’s when we don’t want them any more? And where can we recycle them if they are unusable?
