How can I reuse or recycle old compact discs (cds)?

 

I came across a load of old CD´s the other day and was wondering what to do with them.  They did bring back memories of when normal folks like us were able to "burn" a cd and put whatever you wanted to put on them, which of course sounded much easier than it actually was!!

I really liked the 3 1/2 inch floppy disk, after the rigmarole of formatting them they did actually work every time unlike the cd which failed quite a lot in my experience, normally after a lot of time spent trying to understand the software that in theory enabled you to do it.  Each computer had its own software installed on it which of course was incompatible with any other!

What fun times!  When you finally figured out the software then you had to make sure that the thing you wanted to copy could actually be copied, which you never knew until you had gone through the whole process first!

Many people used the old Cd´s in the garden to scare off birds, we had cats for that so no good for us! Then of course there was the folders to store them in.  We brought all of them here to Menorca when we moved here and haven´t had the heart to throw them away, but now all new computers don´t even have a cd player in them, it´s all on pen drives!

Here are some interesting uses that I have come across for using old CD´s;

I make my old cds into clocks they look good and I put pictures on them any design I want by cutting out pictures from magazines and glueing the picture on them and then putting a clock motor on them and hands.

Discs have good reflective properties similar to amirror. If you want to experiment
form numerous parabolic dishes with a long focal length and glue discs to the inside then direct the dish directly towards the sun you can provide a concentrated beam onto a small area. Sounds fantastic, a bit out there!

When you have collected about enough, thread them on a minature fluo’ tube. Light the tube with the appropriate circuitry. The light shines through the edges of the discs and makes a super-geeky table lamp for your computer desk!!!
I have done it and it works! You can also use a small string of christmas tree lights with less effect.

If you have chickens they love to entertain themselves with old cds on a string.

For years, I have been reusing CDs at Christmas time by putting colorful string or yarn on them and hanging them from a tree outdoors to create a very festive Christmas tree. I encouraged my neighbors to add theirs also and it became quite a spectacle. Adding lights makes them even more reflective. Sometimes I glue two together to cover the writing on one side. People come and look at it all holiday season long.
I also use them as gift tags on packages since it is easy to write TO: and FROM: on them and it looks pretty too.
I saw an idea for using them instead of bird scare tape. I am about to go hang some CDs on my grape vines and plum tree. The reflections look like fire to birds and scare them away. There is always plenty for our feathered friends too so I will allow them to eat the fruit after a few weeks.

If you put them on top of a little jar (the smaller ones from hotel marmelades or patè) and then you put them in the oven you’ll get nice shiny tea-lights holders!
They’ll bend over the jar as little skirts.
With a towel you can give them even more shape if you press down when they are still warm. They can be used as candy mini bowls or for whatever you want!

I think my favourite one is the chicken entertainer!

The blog song for today is: "Roundabout" by Yes

 

TTFN