Econundrum: New Use for Old Floppy Disks
| Mon Feb. 8, 2010 3:30 AM PST
Remember floppy disks? I, for one, have not forgotten them. That's probably because I have about 50 collecting dust in an old box that hails from the '90s. Randy Sarafan, author of a new book called 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer (and Other Discarded Electronics), says it's time for me to let go. "I understand that those floppies are filled with countless wonderful electronic memories like your eighth-grade paper about oak trees," he writes. "But if you haven't recovered the data by now, you are never going to."
Okay, okay, he's right. But how do I ditch them responsibly? The idea of adding to our ever-growing stream of toxic e-waste doesn't exactly appeal. Luckily for me, Safaran has an idea for how to give my disks new life: Turn them into a wall display for photos and postcards. Here's how:
Materials:
Foam board
10-20 floppy disks
hot-glue gun
metal ruler
craft knife
hammer
2-6 1" brads (small nails)
photos and postcards
Instructions:
1. Lay your foam board flat across your workspace. Arrange your floppy disks on the boards in a slightly staggered brick pattern so they are all touching but not in a perfect grid.
2. Once you have a pattern that you like, glue down the floppy disks. Apply hot glue liberally so that it covers the back of the floppy disk leaving a ½" allowance at the edges.
3. Use your craft knife to cut around the outside of the floppy disk shape to removie the exceess foam board. Then flip the project over and cut ½" off the edges of the foam board around the entire perimeter.
4. Nail the frame to the wall by inserting several 1" brads through the foam into the small space between the disks.
5. Hang pictures and postcards in the frame by sliding them behind the metal tabs on the disks.
Voila!
E-waste pack rats rejoice: The floppy disk picture frame is just one of Sarafan's bright ideas. The be-ponytailed craftsman offers step-by-step instructions on how to make a first-aid kit out of a broken iPod, turn your old laptop into a digital photo frame, and make a dead mouse into either a pencil sharpener or a mini garden. We'll be featuring more of these projects over the next few weeks. So resist the urge to trash your old 'tronics for just a little while longer, okay?
Picture frame project excerpted from 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer (and Other Discarded Electronics). Copyright 2010 by Randy Sarafan. Used by permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. New York. All Rights Reserved.
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Comments
Toxic Waste
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Feb. 8, 2010 6:48 AM PST.
Right, save the planet. Put them on your wall and use foam? That's safe for the land fill.
So I guess, according to your
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Feb. 26, 2010 3:39 PM PST.
So I guess, according to your mentality, you shouldn't buy anything because it may end up in the garbage. I think that's a bizarre attitude. You're just trying to be nasty here!
Use cardboard.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Feb. 27, 2010 9:33 PM PST.
Use cardboard.
A non-solution for media waste
Submitted by lmbaer on Mon Feb. 8, 2010 10:36 AM PST.
Look, I appreciate the intent here, but this is the wrong idea for several reasons.
First, Ms. Butler instructs folks to turn their media waste into another waste product that will ultimately get land-filled when the creator gets sick of looking at it or has a change of taste. And, at that time, it will be more likely to get land-filled than it is before the project was executed because it is harder to disassemble. Plus, you've added/consumed more toxic chemicals in the project than you started with when you just had your discs.
Second, Ms. Butler perpetuates the myth (or, at least what I thought was a myth, before I read this post) that progressives looking to save humanity from itself are tail-chasing, clueless dreamers who don't have a foothold in reality and think e-waste art projects are viable solutions to our overwhelming problems. Sure, there are some of those out there--and a certain about of found-object art is fine--but there are also a lot of us who are very technologically, economically, and design savvy who know that solutions like these are ultimately counter-productive, no matter how well-intentioned. I actually think Ms. Butler falls into the latter category and should stick to that image.
What we really need are true life-cycle solutions for slick, cool products that actually make our lives better and more fun. For the stuff that was designed before designers had even heard of cradle-to-cradle? Enter folks like GreenDisk.com (http://www.greendisk.com/) and GRX Recycling/Metech Recyling (http://www.metechrecycling.com/) who are actually harvesting materials from these media (and electronics) and putting them back into the manufacturing stream.
It isn't a perfect system, but recycling--in this instance--is a far sight better than the "reuse" suggested here. And, having just come from the State of Green Business Forum last week (http://www.greenbiz.com/stateofgreenbusinessforum2010) seeing posts like this one--even targeting consumers--just makes me shake my head. We can do so much better than this suggestion for "reuse"!
I encourage Ms. Butler to dig a little deeper and look for savvier solutions to our consumer waste problems. They are out there, and she would be doing folks a tremendous service by promoting them through her blog.
Another genius. Where do
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Feb. 26, 2010 3:41 PM PST.
Another genius. Where do this breed come from?
Would you have like it better if they used cardboard?
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat Feb. 27, 2010 9:30 PM PST.
From their website, Green Disk appears to be too expensive and too confusing to be a viable solution for all of America. As much as you would like to dream about it, the average American is not about to take full responsibility for the full disposal costs of their consumer electronics. In fact, it is also unlikely that local municipalities, who traditionally handle garbage disposal, are about to do the same either. A practical solution may be to petition your federal government representatives to make manufacturers partially responsible for the cost of disposal. The manufacturer can then pass these costs back to the consumer upon the initial sale of the goods in question. Of course, this does not account for thirty years of mass manufactured electronics already out there. And, honestly, I don't see what any of this has to do with a picture frame?
No one is suggesting that floppy disk frames are a solution to the e-waste problem, but rather creative reuse is one of many alternatives to throwing your electronic waste into a trash bin.
Simple electronic reuse activities are actually a valuable asset in familiarizing individuals with the internal workings of their computers. This enables the average person to be more comfortable even considering repairing broken electronics in the future, as opposed to disposing of them. Activities like these will familiarize people with the parts of the computer and help people not have to worry about how to properly throw things away in the first place (granted, perhaps not floppy disk frames).
Empowering the average person to be producers and mechanics is far more valuable than demanding of the average person in an online forum to start a recycling center.
And ultimately, whether you like it or not, it is easier to convince people to reuse electronics for arts and crafts projects than it is to convince them to sort their garbage into 16 different trash bins and then pay $170 to have someone come and remove it.
Big pictures are nice and all, but before everyone can paint the Birth of Venus, they have to learn to draw. Fortunately, while they are busy learning to draw for themselves, we have cranks like you worrying about painting a big picture for everyone. And so, I ask, what have you done for /everyone/ lately?
Throw them away
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Feb. 9, 2010 10:13 AM PST.
Me... I'm gonna take these last two commenters advice and just throw them away. In doing so, I'll support the public art project that is my local landfill.
These two people convinced me. Reuse is stupid and worse for than environment than just throwing them in the trash.
Dumb article, great comments
Submitted by Biscuits (not verified) on Tue Feb. 9, 2010 3:41 PM PST.
Hey, thanks to the second commenter, who wrote the article I wanted to read, with a place to send the floppy disks so they can be recycled, not turned in to crap I will throw away soon.
I've noticed Mother Jones has a lot of these terrible articles recently about "small steps" when there is a whole huge real solution the are completely missing out on. Kind of like a lot of American issues in general, but not what you expect to see in Mother Jones.
Mother Jones - you need a new
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri Feb. 26, 2010 3:42 PM PST.
Mother Jones - you need a new audience. You've got some duds here!
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