Old records and cassettes can be repurposed into almost anything! (Images: theflourishinabode.com, topdreamer.com, cassetteisnotdead.com)
We all have that one thing we’ve dumped far too much money into. My wallet weakness is music. From the moment I had an allowance, I took every chance I had to duck into the Times Square Virgin Megastore or my local FYE to buy a new CD. By high school, I had an entire wall filled with three gigantic CD racks and one just for my already outdated cassettes. I have since amassed a great deal of vinyl to boot. Thanks to the worlds of iTunes, Spotify, and Mp3 players, much of my collection is now virtually useless. Furthermore, old vinyl, burned CDs, and overplayed cassettes often stopped reaching decent sound quality, rendering them entirely useless.
Instead of letting them go to waste, or suffer their usual fate (the landfill), over time I’ve concocted some creative ideas to repurpose them, and thanks to DIY sites and Pinterest, I’ve located many more neat ways to put these obsolete media formats to good use.
Your Favorite Old Cassettes Repurposed into Your Favorite New Chair
While living in an apartment for only a short period of time after college, I picked up two 50 cent scratched records at a flea market and turned them into small end tables by attaching legs made from stacked mason jars. All were things I knew I could repurpose, and it prevented me from buying new furniture, knowing I’d only be there for a few months.
Cassette tapes can turn a plain chair into a unique statement piece of furniture. (Image: Ooomy Design)
CDs, records, and tapes all make great DIY furnishings and accents. By adding a small metal three-legged base, a record really does make the perfect end table. Vinyl is relatively easy to cut or reshape. If melted in the oven, records make convenient bases for cake and dessert stands, or most simply a base for a hot dish at the dinner table. Cassettes, when woven together by their tape, can be made into small tables or even chairs. Shaped into a square or cylinder, many Pinterest lovers have proudly posted their cassette lamps, the results of which are quite stunning.
Creating Clock Faces, Ornaments, Placemats, Disco Balls and More!
CDs and records require little effort to be made into clock faces or can simply be used to line a wall, fill the top of a coffee table, or even a floor. Most obviously, CDs can be used as coasters to keep coffee tables free of coffee stains, as they do in my apartment, and they can also be shattered and pieced together on surfaces to mosaic things like picture frames, mirrors, and jewelry boxes.
You can turn old CDs into great gifts like this photo frame (Image: makeiteasycrafts.com)
Shattering CDs leaves dozens of small mosaic pieces that can be glued to any surface, including furniture, or onto spheres to recreate other music relics such as the ever-popular disco ball. Broken CD pieces have unlimited possibilities for homemade holiday decorations such as icicles or ornaments. Vinyl, without any reconstruction (or deconstruction!) can be used as placemats. Cut vinyl makes an excellent outlet cover. If melted and molded, vinyl can be made into bookends, wine racks, and bowls.
The tape from inside cassettes can also be woven into placemats or repurposed as black ribbon for gifts. CDs, when hung in large windows, not only add unique reflected light to a room, but also enable birds to see an obstruction in their flight path. For this reason, hanging CDs in apartment, home, or office windows can prevent hundreds of avian deaths, particularly in big cities like New York.
Quirky Stationery Supplies
My absolute favorite work folder is made from woven cassette tape. Vinyl can be used to make notebook covers or folders, too. The album artwork from CDs and records makes for great collaging material for folder or binder covers, and an excellent kids crafting idea.
What to do With Shattered CDs and Melted Vinyl
This bracelet is fun an easy DIY project that looks great (Image: islaeverywhere.blogspot.com.au)
As an avid fan of jewelry made from recycled products, this is possibly my favorite way to keep beloved bands and albums by my side in the digital age. I’ve woven together the tape from cassettes into rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Post-melting or cutting, vinyl or cassettes can be made into earrings, charms or bangles. This is also another opportunity to repurpose shattered CDs to mosaic larger accessories like bangles and pendants.
The possibilities are endless, and thanks to idea-driven sites like Pinterest, creative visions for accessorizing are endless as well. Not only are these great examples of innovative ways to repurpose old media, but they also prevent unnecessary waste headed to the landfill. Most recycling pickups cannot accommodate records, CDs and tapes, and because tangible forms of media are largely plastic-based, we know they are non-biodegradable, so there are currently hundreds of thousands of records sitting in landfills that will be there indefinitely!
CDs that are not melted meet the same fate. An additional hazard for cassettes is the actual tape, which is often one of the depicted ocean bird stranglers in images about plastic pollution (much like soda can rings). So, let’s put an end to this unnecessary hazardous waste and turn these ‘ancient’ forms of media into new and useful artifacts!
Have you found a way to repurpose an old media format? Share your ideas with us in the comments below!
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Hi Katherine!
I love this post! It was a joy to read and learn about creative ways to repurpose CDs, vinyl records, and cassettes. I have a box full of CDs and cassettes that I don’t want to throw away because I’ve been thinking of ways to reuse them. I look forward to fashioning them into either something decorative (picture frame or jewelry box) for my apartment or something functional (like coasters or a base for a hot dish) as you suggested. I will take a few of these ideas and see where I can take them. Very exciting! Thanks for the inspiration!
Tiffany
The records and tape can be toxic. I wouldn’t recommend melting, burning or otherwise using them without understanding the risks.
I finally know what to do with my old CD collection that sits in my closet collecting dust! Thanks for the inspiration! My dad also has his old cassette and vinyl collection that I’m sure he would love to repurpose (not sure how he’d feel about melting his old vinyl though). I am a bit concerned about the risks of melting old tape and vinyl, but I’ll have to do some research about it. Your article definitely sparked some ideas though! I’m thinking about making a table top out of shattered old CDs and glass.
I love this post and something I work hard to incorporate in my life and my families life. The one thing I learned from traveling to other countries is that “It is not funny, if it works.” If you have some innovative way to make something work than you have completed your mission. This is one reason why I think everyone should learn some trade skill. for example, I have gained a small background in welding where if something breaks, I can go pick up scrap metal and make something new out of it. A rack in my families shed broken so I made a new one out of scrap metal or we needed to make something to hold wood, so I built it!
An article like this also goes with consuming products that are meant to last a life time rather than just the short run. Constantly buying new phones every year is energy intensive and wastes natural resources. If we had a phone or something else that can last much longer, we are using less material.
I love this article, but I just bought a new record player. Ill repurpose my vinyls soon.
This post is brilliant! I love to see furniture and products created from existing materials. I would be careful when re-purposing some of these materials for food stands, holders etc. Great Ideas here. I hope others find it useful and actually try some of these ideas.
This was such a fun read! These type of projects would allow me to reduce waste while exercising my creative muscles – truly a win-win situation. Even though I don’t have any vinyl, cassettes or CDs of my own, I am inspired to find obsolete objects in my home that I can re-purpose into cool furniture and decorative pieces. Who knew that vintage music could be used for more than listening and lamenting about nostalgic times? Plus, constantly being surrounded my old music memorabilia is always an added bonus!
Katherine, I love your suggestions for how to upcycle CDs! I have collected used CDs for years, and I have always thought about displaying them in my living room in the future as a way to start conversations about music – something no doubt your home pieces attract. My original idea was simply to have a shelf for them, but your post has give me the idea of maybe making a table out of them (I have a friend who is doing that with bottle caps). You also made me realize that I could re-purpose not only the case but the CD as well, since I mostly have them for nostalgic/aesthetic value rather than listening to them. Thanks!
P.S. If you’re into music-themed jewelry, Etsy has some cool guitar pick holder necklaces. I’ve caught some cool ones and like to show them off. Anything can be jewelry!
Katherine, I love your suggestions for how to upcycle CDs! I have collected used CDs for years, and I have always thought about displaying them in my living room in the future as a way to showcase my music and start conversations – something no doubt your home pieces attract. My original idea was simply to have a shelf for them, but your post has me thinking about maybe making a table out of them (I have a friend who is doing that with bottle caps). You have also made me realize that I could re-purpose not only the case but the CD as well, since I mostly have them for nostalgic/aesthetic value rather than listening to them. Thanks!
P.S. if you’re interested in music-themed jewelry, Etsy has some cool necklaces that hold guitar picks. I’ve caught some cool ones and like to show them off. You could probably make it yourself too. Anything can be jewelry!