Trash Talk: Are those old videos just garbage?

What should we do with old VHS home-recorded cassette tapes?

That’s what reader Ruth Satov wants to know: “In the process of de-cluttering, I would like to get rid of these, while leaving as minimal a footprint as possible.”

Municipalities treat them as garbage, but Goodwill takes them. The charity can only sell the legitimate movie tapes at stores because of copyright issues, but a salvage company takes the rest in bulk by the pound.

Meanwhile, there are lots of ideas out there for creative repurposing of old tape, mainly of the audio variety. Fortunately, a new website will soon make it easy to retrieve and share information about reusing just about anything.

Ian Moise, a Washington, D.C., resident, is in the process of developing www.ReUseConnection.com, a site where you’ll be able to plug in an item and find out how people around the world are recycling it. And if something is not in the database, you will be able to post a question and wait for responses.

The website still being tested but Moise expects it to be running in September. He’s already building interest through a Facebook page, which has acquired 17,000 “friends” since mid-January. (Go to www.reuseconnection.com and click on the Facebook link.)

A water, sanitation and public health specialist, Moise has worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East as a consultant for organizations such as the World Bank and the United States Agency for International Development .

“All systems that I’ve seen are cyclical, except our waste stream,” says the 38-year-old father of two. “That’s where my head is. I look at a plastic, and I ask where is this going to end up? Obviously, it’s not going to end up anywhere good unless you use it for something.”

Overseas, he saw people using everything out of necessity, and on his return to the U.S., he was confronted with the dramatic contrast of waste and plenty.

“I saw this opportunity to connect these multiple worlds,” says Moise, whose motto is becoming “Waste is the new raw material.”

Without his family, Moise would never be able to launch his project. His father, a software developer, is building the site and both his sister and brother-in-law, also a software specialist, have lent their skills. His mother, who started a recycling program in Santa Monica in the 1970s, inspired his “green” commitment, he says.

“I’ve lived all these years in developing countries, and there are a lot of good ideas, and there is a lack of opportunity, but if you take ideas from country X and send it over to country Y, where they haven’t seen it before, there’s a competitive advantage, and you can start up a business. I see some opportunities in that.”

There certainly seems no end of interest from individuals. The Facebook page is flooded with questions and ideas. And the range of examples of how creative people are using waste — from toothpaste tubes (woven bags) to old dumpsters (swimming pools) — is mind-boggling.

Suggestions were few for VHS cassettes but abundant for audio cassettes on ReUse Connection’s Facebook page, where links were posted to other sites, including www.greenopolis.com (supported by the giant company Waste Management as part of the recycling infrastructure it is building).

People are crocheting bags and dresses out of tape; building lamps out of clear cassette cases and even furniture; making portraits of rock stars; weaving fabric using half polyester and half tape, which produces sound when a tape-deck head runs over it; making wallets out of cases; and, in India, sewing cosmetic bags made of tape and recycled cotton (for sale on The Animal Rescue Site).

Moise, of course, hopes his site will become the go-to portal for knowledge about reuse and recycling, and as traffic builds, attract support from advertisers. “We see a very fragmented space in this sector, but a lot of people are interested in reuse, a lot of people are making things, and corporations are getting in on it.”

Comments or questions? Email e_moorhouse@sympatico.ca

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