We’ve had a message from Leanne, saying:

I have an MP3 Player that no longer works and 2 digital cameras with cracked screens. Both still work but you cannot view the object as you are taking the photo. Do you know anywhere I can recycle these?

I’d be tempted to put the digital cameras on my local Freecycle group because someone may be able to use them for something that doesn’t need a screen. If my (admittedly incredibly geeky) friendship group is anything to go by, there are always people that want to fix a camera to a kite/dog/radio-controlled helicopter and might be able to use a screenless one instead of risking their brand new 8megapixel camera or whatever.

Aside from that, in the UK (and the rest of the EU), I believe these types of things are covered by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive so the shop where you bought them may have a “bring back scheme” to take care of the recycling – or your local household tip might have a special bin for that sort of thing.

Any further advice or reuse suggestions?

(Photo by nkzs)

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)