a few days ago my dad brought me 2 boxes of old cd and dvd boxes, plus a few good old floppy disks (for the generation 00’s under us, yes that’s where we got our save icons from we know nowadays). As you can see on the picture I took apart the diskettes and found that the cotton like stuff in some cases really keeps sticking to the plastic. I wonder if anyone of you worked with the floppy disks before. I got a few questions below I hope to find an answer to and I sum up the pros and cons of taking apart the disks imo.
Questions
– What type of plastic are the coloured case made of?
– What type of plastic or mix are the round disks made of and is this useful material for recycling?
– What is the cotton like fabric made of?
– Are the inner metal round parts made of stainless steel like internet suggests? I’m pretty sure the square ones are made of aluminium.
– Anyone got success with soaking off the paper stickers and how long did it take?
Pros
+ Bright colourful thin plastic that is easily shredded
+ Clean metal side parts that can be recycled
Cons
– Taking apart the disks is relatively time consuming
– Fabric sticking to the plastic
– Paper sticker or printed texts residuals
– Lots of loose parts
Thanks guys! Look forward to hearing more from you!
Hi @rowine
I would say that the outer case is made of PolyStyrene (like cd cases). Other possibility will be ABS. If you break them, do they snap like cd cases?
All the other materials I do not really know. (I used them couple of times but i am a bit too young to have the full floppy experience).
We mainly avoided them because of the time consuming process of taking apart. But good to put the effort in it!
It seems to be PolyStyrene indeed, they snap like cd cases and produce black smoke and particles when burned.
The inner circle that holds the data is made of Mylar indeed, found some more info on the web about it. The 8″ ones are a little bit softer and are more like an envelope, but with the paper linen stuff on the inside as well.
In the end floppy disks are not the stuff I’d like to collect, takes too much time and you end up with lots of different stuff you don’t really need. There are a few fun options to give them a second life and make a flower pot, pen holder or for example a floppy disk bag from it like this guy did: http://www.instructables.com/id/Floppy-Disk-Bag/.
I am sufficiently aged to have seem floppy disks when they were 8″ and diameter, and really were FLOPPY! So I can maybe give some answers. I think the shortest answer is that there is not much recyclable material here.
The round disks themselves are mylar, with iron oxide bonded to one or both surfaces. Wikipedia tells me that Mylar is a type of PET. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BoPET
The inner hub is usually steel, as is the sliding door on the outside of the case, and the door-closing spring. A magnet will tell you quickly whether these are stainless steel or plated carbon steel.
So I can maybe give some answers. I think the shortest answer is that there is not much recyclable material here.