De-cluttering is hard. Especially if you're a bit of a hoarder like me. It doesn't come naturally.
Chucking videos is a case in point. I love video. I collect 1980's big boxes and clamshells and have loads.
But we also have stacks of the normal-sized later video tapes, which we don't want anymore and I don't collect. Throwing them out seems wrong though.
But that's what I've had to do. We couldn't even give them away. Video has been killed good and proper. Even charity shops won't accept them.
We had a stack of about forty VHS was available free of charge to any good local home that wanted them, via Freecycle online. Twenty were kindly picked up yesterday by a lady who still watches VHS.
One video was put aside for someone who just wanted Capricorn One last week. It's still on our outside porch step in a bag!
For the rest I had considered specialist recycling but it seems so complex and I was appalled when I saw the image on this site with piles of tinned film stock for destruction. God knows what treasures and gems people throw out! https://www.tiptopmedia.co.uk/recycling/
I even checked Cashconverters and Musicmagpie but Video isn't listed as something they buy anymore so no joy there.
The bin seemed the only option. In a bid to reduce what I had to chuck I have recycled all the paper covers [sleeves] and kept the plastic cases as hard packaging for when I sell action figures. That just left the tapes themselves.
So into the wheelie bin they went. I hate the idea that this once beautiful and ubiquitous technology going to landfill but they had to.
Only Capricorn One remains. Waiting for a final launch. My favourite film of the whole pile. It's still on our doorstep, where next door's cat has left half a shrew. Not a bad trade really!
A shrewd move by the cat. So nobody wants a copy of Fat Slags? Even Rollerball and Apollo 13 have gone! Shame
ReplyDeleteNobody wants VHS now unless its Disney. You just watch though, two large ladies will turn up on skates and say they need something to watch in their NASA rocket! ha ha
DeleteAnd what about An American Werewolf in London? Will never leave Helsinki Base!
ReplyDeleteGlad you saved the paper covers & cases though. I find the sleeves as collectables themselves, and quite easy to store too.
You can't keep the Kessler boy locked up Arto! He's off to the slaughtered Lamb on the North Yorkshire Moors!
DeleteIts my big boxes, pre certs and clamshells that mean a lot to me and my horror videos. It took years to collect and you really don't see any at all anymore at car boots or charity shops.
Video was once so common, everyone had one, and a collection of tapes, then it become outdated and 'everyone' threw out their collections, and video disappeared. Then one day it will suddenly become rare and desirable, and therefore collectable. The completist will one day need videos of Spiderman or The Lone Ranger, and where will they all be ? If you hold on to something long enough it will eventually come back into fashion. So never throw anything out.
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't throw anything out I would never get in or out the house! That does describe our attic though. Bursting!
DeleteLike you, I recycled what I could and had to bin the rest. It's an appalling waste of materials, the same thing happened to the music tapes we had. I wonder how long it will be before my film DVDs are no longer playable. It may be progress, but I'm not sure...
ReplyDeleteYes, a waste Andy. DVD's seem to be nearly valueless too.
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