[Info-vax] What to do with a bunch of DLTtapes?

[Louis Krupp]

On Tue, 3 Sep 2019 16:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Marty <mkuhrt at gmail.com>
wrote:

>I have around sixty DLTtapes of various densities from TK50 to DLTtape IV I'd like to get rid of.  Problem is none of the E-waste places in the Bay Area will take any magnetic tape items (DLT, 4mm, 8mm, Dat, Reel-to-Reel, etc).
>
>Any suggestions?

If you can't recycle the tapes in the Bay Area, then I don't think
you'll be able to recycle them anywhere. My guess is that there are
two main problems: One, the plastic in the tapes is hard to recycle,
and two, any reputable recycler will want to make sure that any
information on the tapes is gone before the material is sent anywhere
for processing, and that process might be slow and therefore
expensive.

I would disassemble the cases, recycle any metal parts, and throw the
rest away. It's tempting to look at all the tape and think wow,
Halloween costume material, but I'm pretty sure the stuff burns easily
and generates toxic fumes in the process, so that's probably not a
good option.

As long as the tapes don't end up in the Bay itself, you're probably
doing the best you can.

Louis