How can I reuse or recycle … 35mm cameras?
With the mass move to digital cameras these days, the old cameras have become as obsolete as the film canisters.
Nicola Dickinson has emailed us on this very subject – how can the cameras themselves be recycled? Or, I guess, reused?
A lot of old electronics (like phones and computers) are collected for charity and shipped overseas but I don’t know if this would be happening with cameras too because they don’t seem as “essential” (inverted commas because the others aren’t really essential in most situations) and they’re useless without the film and developing infrastructure etc.
So any ideas on how they can avoid being landfill?
(Photo by AAD)
lots of people, like my uncle, collect old cameras. if you have any spare, please send a photo along with details to cdhaptomos@hotmail.com and i willl get back to you.
disposable cameras usually have really good batteries in them, still 90% charged. you can pick them up at friendly photo developers. you have to be careful prying them apart (use a screwdriver) as they contain chunky capacitors for the flash, which can give you a high voltage shock. so go carefully on the first few until you figure out the safest way to open them.
You could hope that this:
http://www.side.com/
eventaully becomes a real product
If there is a secondary school or college near you that teaches photography, they probably could use them. Even if they are too obsolete to be of use to the students, most schools that teach photography use old cameras for demonstrations and the like.
Load them up with film and hand them to kids. Let them take pictures of whatever they want. Develop the film – you’ll be amazed at some of the shots.
Without the film they can be play cameras.
Offer them on your local freecycle ( http://www.freecycle.org/ ) or give them to your local foodbank.
I’m sure someone you know would love to take one apart to find out how they work.
I read somewhere that a guy grabbed 20+ of these, managed to set the flashes on a timer / delay and dressed up for Hallowe’en as the “Paparazzi”
How can I recycle a digital camera?
Exibit them as decorative items, or just store. Someday they will be antique and cost more, that what you bought them for.
well 4 me if u hav ur used cameras,just give it to me so that i could recycled it into a new one!
cameras should be thrown away if its not functioning at all
Why not send them to me at collectiblecameras.co.uk Include some history and some of your old photos and I’ll upload a photo of the camera to my online camera collection site. This way everyone can remember what film cameras were like… it saves them from the rubbish and keeps a real record of the old, unusual and antique.
Donate them to a charity called photovoice – see their web site for details
kodak has some info on it
http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2879/4191/4196/4213/6170&pq-locale=en_US