Monday, July 28, 2008

Day 98 of our Green Year: Reusing CDs

First, who here remembers the old 5 1/4 floppy disks? I do, I had one on my first computer, which was a Tandy 1000. Now, who remembers the 3.5 inch hard disk? Most of us should. Of course, the CD is something everyone has used, but as we make the switch to larger and easier to use USB drives that can fit on a keychain, the need to get rid of the CD becomes more and more apparent.

The thing is, these CDs do not break down easily, and it is not unusual for one to last for decades on end. This creates a problem with landfills as not only music CDs and DVDs enter there, but the billions of CD-Rs, CD-RWs and DVD-RWs that people use every year for a few files and then toss away.

Here at Our Green Year, we try and re-use and then recycle. This is the motto for our green initiative and it applies to everything, including CDs. So, here are some great ideas for CDs after they cannot be used anymore.

1. First, why not break the CDs into pieces and make some mosiacs. You can paint the CDs before you break them and this will give you a unique looking picture that can actually look quite good in an office.

2. You can also use these as a reflector on a driveway or sidewalk, or even on your mailbox to keep people from running into it. The lights will shine off the reflective part of the CD, and give you a free reflector for your home.

3. They can make a great wall border for a room, and will be a good compliment to your CD mosiac in your home office.

4. The most obvious use of an old CD is to turn it into a coaster. There is no reason to spend money on a coaster when you can simply use an old CD, which is free of charge for you.

There are literally dozens of crafts you can do with old CDs, so check out this site for some great ideas!