Forum Topic

VHS Video Tapes

Afternoon all.Does anyone know, before I go to freecycle, of any charity shops that still accept pre-recorded VHS tapes. I have two crates full of box sets to donate.My 'charity shop of choice', Cancer Research. no longer accept them and a call to Oxfam was met with derision (they can 'do one' next time they appeal).I would rather not go 'peddling' so if you are aware of any shops that definitely take them please let me know.

Nigel Brooks ● 4428d29 Comments

Thanks for that Charlotte. I will probably find some more so will 'try them twice'. :-)

Nigel Brooks ● 4407d

BHF -They took mine last week....depends who is manager that day??

Charlotte Carotenuto ● 4407d

Charlotte, they wouldn't a couple of weeks ago sadly as  I hawked my crate of box sets up and down west Ealing Broadway. Still, the 'Sally Ann' have them now.

Nigel Brooks ● 4407d

BHF in west Ealing take adult videos ie not kids ones..

Charlotte Carotenuto ● 4407d

A place with small children, bikes and scooters is called a school.

Christine Daniels ● 4408d

What, you mean that the pikeys are fly-tipping small children, bikes and scooters?Appalling.

Nigel Brooks ● 4408d

It can be a nightmare with small children, bikes and scooters.

Philippa Bond ● 4408d

Exactly how I got rid of my cast ironbath.As soon as I took the 'Free, please take' notice OFF it was gone.

Nigel Brooks ● 4408d

It isn't to do with the truth - it is to do with the lack of co-ordination in this waste contract.Leaving it out on the street might work but that just encourages people to pick things up they find and take them away when they aren't theirs to take and can be classed as fly-tipping or will be once they're wet. Videos then certainly would no longer be useable.  Better to find someone who want them.

Philippa Bond ● 4408d

That's the problem with the internet and websites, not always the truth.Has anyone tried just leaving them on a wall or something?Scrap metal is easily disposed of this way, have been told the correct term is "pikeydegradeable".

Christine Daniels ● 4408d

I didn't have any but had I believed what was on the website and gone just for that I would have been flipping furious. I actually went to dispose of some garden waste of my own and also some fly-tipped garden waste that I was tired of seeing in the street and which had started to collect litter from lazy passers-by.

Philippa Bond ● 4408d

So what happened to the videos?  Don't tell us you took them home again?

Christine Daniels ● 4409d

I went to Acton Re-use & Recycling Centre on Friday for several reasons.Having told everyone that videos were listed under Bric a brac on the list of things we can Reuse & Recycle there I couldn't see the advertised collection box.  Where it used to stand were some Eurobins for mixed plastic - showing pictures of plastic bottles and one tub.I was told to put any videos I had in the general waste.  Reminds me of when I was told to put my cardboard in the general waste.  I declined.  I went there because it was a Reuse & Recycling Centre not to dump general waste.  I have a dustbin for that.I understand that Enterprise is running this for the Council.  Who is doing the liaison between the Council and Enterprise so that we can have the correct information on the website?  Anybody?

Philippa Bond ● 4409d

I guess the number of working video recorders/players is reducing...

Philippa Bond ● 4420d

I did Preloved and Gumtree (with free ads) at the same time as Freecycle. Not even a hint of a sniff of interest.

Nigel Brooks ● 4420d

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/list/3620/vhs-videos.html?keyword=video%20tapes

Philippa Bond ● 4420d

Acton Recycling Centre also has them listed on the LBE website as being acceptable under the heading "Bric a brac".http://www.ealing.gov.uk/info/200489/recycling_rubbish_and_waste/292/re-use_and_recycling_centres/2

Philippa Bond ● 4420d

Makes one wonder what the Sally Army does with the tapes that no other agency/organisation can offer.

Andy Horridge ● 4420d

By way of an update and to help anyone else who has tapes to recycle.No takers after two listings on Freecycle.Good news though.Greenford Recycling Centre has a Salvation Army 'bin' for commercially pre-recorded tapes (it's also the book recycling bin) just after you go through the height restriction.Home recorded tapes though still have to go into 'general' waste.Hope this helps.

Nigel Brooks ● 4420d

ThanksI have just posted them on Freecycle but  have grave doubts that they will go.A shame as they are still 'viable' and will bring hours of enjoyment to someone which is far better than shredding them.

Nigel Brooks ● 4427d

http://myzerowaste.com/2013/07/how-to-recycle-vhs-tapes-and-audio-cassettes/This used to be a much more active website than it is now as Rae Strauss (Mrs Green) has moved onto Facebook and twitter and has other projects - however it is still a very useful reference and the post on VHS video tapes was made in July last year.I suppose that the container at Acton Recycling Centre is no longer there?Freecycle?  It is so much better to find someone who actually wants them.

Philippa Bond ● 4427d

I get my vinyl online from a wonderful place called 'RareGrooves'.

Nigel Brooks ● 4428d

"Vinyl sales highest for 15 years"  And it must be true because the article is in the Daily Torygraph.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/10556186/Vinyl-sales-highest-for-15-years.html#disqus_thread

Andy Horridge ● 4428d

Vinyl is on the way back!Lots of specialist shops now opening to cater for the analogue lovers among us.Ok, we'll never be back to the halcyon days of our youth but the new music is out there on vinyl if you want it an, thankfully, not at rip-off prices.

Nigel Brooks ● 4428d

They were still taking them at the Friends of Charing Cross shop the year before last.  I'm not sure how you get in contact with them though.When I was looking in the local charity shops for audio cassette tapes at the end of last year I was told that they sent all theirs to Southall Neighbourhood Centre. I think they may have meant the Southall Day Centre. These are still used by people who have not got to grips with or got more modern technology. So often it will be the elderly - or the blind.  I wonder if Ealing CVS can find a home for them.  Don't they have a list of things wanted/offered?

Philippa Bond ● 4428d

Hi Andy,I was chatting with a friend about this the other day (the way technology is going) and we both agreed that books will stand the test of time and technology - people love them I think. I have an e-reader, but I don't like it. I love holding a book and owning it and I think may do too. I hope I'm not proved wrong on that one. Mind you, I said that about vinyl records....

Bud Richards ● 4428d

Nigel,I helped clear my late cousin's flat after he had died.  He had hundreds of VHS tapes, home recorded as well as commercial VHS recordings.  I, too, tried several charity shops - none of them  wanted to know.  The reality is, the tapes are just too bulky and have no appreciable resale value.  There are one or two specialist recycling centres who will take them, but they will be broken up into base plastic fragments.  It's a horrible sign of the times, I'm afraid.  And I think that 'books' will be going the same way in the next few years.  Some aspects of 'getting old' really hack me off LOL.

Andy Horridge ● 4428d

That's the problem.No one wants video cassettes any more.

Nigel Brooks ● 4428d

What is a VHS video tape?

Christine Daniels ● 4428d