How to Recycle Old Floppy Disks

If you have owned a computer at any time in the last ten or twenty years, the odds are that you probably have a few old floppy disks lying around collecting dust. There is not much you can do with them anymore, especially if they have become corrupt due to age or misuse. Instead of throwing them away, try some of these creative ways to reuse your old floppies.

Recycled Floppy Disk Notepad

A crafty little recycled notepad can be made from old floppy disks. You will need two floppies, a metal key ring, a drill, and several used envelopes. Cut pieces from the backs of the envelopes to use as your scratch paper sheets in your notepad. If you can, cut each sheet exactly the same size as your floppies. The notepad can be as thick as you want it to be, but probably not more than � inch thick.

Lay one floppy disk on top of your pile of square scratch papers and the other floppy disk on the bottom. Clamp them together firmly using a metal clamp or a vise. Using a drill, make a hole straight through the floppies and the paper pad through one corner. Insert the metal key ring through the hole to hold the entire booklet together. These make great stocking stuffers and are useful to keep in your bag or in a drawer to use for scratch paper whenever you need them. Once all of the note pages are torn out and used, you can replenish them by adding more papers. Use a hole punch to make the holes in the corner of additional pages.

Recycled Floppy Disk Paperweight

If you have a large stack of floppy disks, you can glue them together to make a useful paperweight. Use a heavy duty craft glue or hot glue to glue them together. You can glue them in a straight column, or if you want it to be even more interesting, glue them so that they sort of spiral up like a staircase. The resulting piece of art will last forever and will be heavy enough to hold down papers on your desk.

Recycled Floppy Disk Coasters

You can make your own set of retro coasters out of floppy disks. Cut felt squares from craft felt to fit on the back of each floppy disk. Glue them securely to the back of the disks using heavy duty craft glue or hot glue.

Surface Protectors

Using the felt idea above to make coasters, you can use floppies as surface protectors. Keep several felted floppies in a drawer and use them under vases, decorations, statues, and other items that may scratch the surface of a table or shelf.

Pen Holder

Use a heavy crafter's glue or hardware glue to glue five floppy disks along their edges into a cube design with an open top. This can be used as a pen holder or it can be used to store knickknacks. Two small hinges can be added to create a box with a lid that opens and closes.

Greendisk.com

If you still want to recycle your old floppy disks, but don't like any of the ideas that you have seen here, go to greendisk.com and find out how to send your floppies in. They take old disks and recycle them into new reusable disks.