Video tapes are familiar to most people that are old enough to be parents, but are very rarely seen any more. They quickly got superseded by DVDs as a superior format, and now even the DVD is fading into the past with streaming services reigning supreme.
Old video tapes can be donated to charity shops, although the number accepting them is dwindling rapidly. While they can be thrown into general waste bins, some companies take them to salvage and recycle parts.
VHS was the hugely popular format in the 1980s and 1990s, used to record live television and buy (or rent) movies. They revolutionised home entertainment, beating Sony’s Betamax format to be the mainstream choice.
Are VHS Tapes Worth Anything Any More?
While there are still a lot of VHS machines out there in homes across the country, VHS video tapes are now worth very little.
As with anything, there are exceptions to the rule. If you think that you have got a collectible title on VHS, a great way to get an idea of whether you’re correct and its value is to check sites like eBay and Amazon and see if they’re selling.
The bad news is that things are only likely to get more bleak for the humble video tape – every day more and more machines will fail meaning the market is getting smaller and smaller. It’s now very difficult to buy a VHS recorder, so it’s very unlikely that the trend will change.
Do Charity Shops Take Video Tapes?
Charity shops are typically still grateful for donations of video tapes. Older generations are those that are most likely to still use video players, and they’re also one of the more common groups likely to visit charity shops, so for now it’s a great way to get re-use out of old video tapes.
This applies both to titles bought on the VHS format such as films and TV series, as well as blank video tapes. While I’m not aware of any problems with people donating tapes with TV shows recorded onto them, you should check the legal position with copyright or wipe them before making your donation.
Do Libraries Take Video Tapes?
Similarly to charity shops, there are libraries that take old video tapes. There is a key difference though here compared to the stores raising money for good causes.
In the same way that you wouldn’t associate a blank notepad with a visit to the library (unless it’s to write in as you do some research!), libraries typically won’t be interested in the blank recordable tapes. It’s the pre-recorded ones they’re likely to want, as the value is in the material they contain – just like the books!
Can I Put VHS Tapes In The Bin?
VHS tapes often pre-date the recycling initiatives that we’re used to today. As a result, little thought was given to the composition of the tapes when they were manufactured, and as a result, they’re not usually easy to recycle.
In general, the cases were either cardboard or plastic. Cardboard sleeve style cases can go into your paper and card recycle bin, but plastic cases are likely to be polypropylene. That means that the plastic style cases should be taken to a recycling centre or placed into general waste as they’re not usually taken in plastic recycling collections.
The tapes themselves are almost certainly not able to be placed into kerbside recycling, so should also go into your general waste bin.
Can VHS Tapes Be Recycled?
Some companies will take tapes for recycling, although it’s not necessarily going to be a free service. An example of such company is Tip Tip Media. If you’re able to dispose of your old tapes this way, I’d suggest doing so sooner rather than later, as the number of companies offering this service is shrinking, suggesting it’s not a very attractive business model any more.
It’s very unusual for tapes to be recycled, as they do not offer much value in raw materials, and the plastics are not taken as part of routine residential collections.
As a result, the tapes will usually end up in regular general waste residential wheelie bins for collection.
Fortunately, local authorities are getting much better at processing general waste collections, with far less going into landfill than in years gone by. Schemes such as Energy From Waste have made great strides in using rubbish that’s not recycled for other means.
For example, Sheffield City Council have outsourced their waste collection activities to Veolia who operate the Sheffield incinerator, creating heat and energy to be used at their Energy Recovery Facility.
There are similar schemes in operation across the UK, helping the nation to become more environmentally friendly, even when discarding materials like video tapes that would not otherwise be recycled.
Ideas For Re-Using VHS Tapes
As we regularly point out here at Rubbish Site, re-use is better than recycling, so if you can find an alternative to ensure items get a new lease of life, go for it!
With video tapes (and the same goes for CDs and DVDs too!), it’s worth considering whether you can find someone else who will gladly take on your pre-loved items.
For example, local nurseries might be grateful for that VHS box set of In The Night Garden episodes, or you might find a group of Trekkies that meet in the local pub who’d love that collection of films on the Starship Enterprise.
The internet is a wonderful tool, and of course you can list items on eBay or Facebook to make a bit of cash too. Get creative and you might line your pockets at the same time as save some plastic from the bin!
What About Betamax Tapes?
It’s easy to forget that VHS wasn’t the only medium that ever existed for the home video recording market. There were tons of other varieties too over the years.
Examples of the other technologies include Betamax, VHS-C, Hi8, S-VHS, MiniDV and MicroMV. They all had slightly different specifications and some were more suitable for one use than another. For example, handheld camcorders could benefit from physically smaller tapes such as Hi8.
The same basic principle applies to all the formats as VHS when they come to recycling, however from a re-use perspective, you might find a higher demand for tapes. It’s very hard to find anywhere that will sell blank cassettes in these formats as stock levels were exhausted in most retailers years ago.
While some companies specialise in stocking the tapes, they’re likely to be used, so over time the condition of them will inevitably degrade. If you’ve got a stash of blank tapes in an alternative format, you might find you’re able to sell them on a website like eBay quite easily.
