Is there anything useful to do with 3.5" floppies?

[Muttocracy]

I have a pile of old ones with no files on them anymore. Are they considered recyclable these days? Some charity? Is there anyone using them for art or something?

[DaveJ]

1. I still need them at work sometimes.

I know that's not what your asking :-) But some computers might need a bootable disc and its a lot easier to make a boot disk from a floppy than a CD. USB thumb drives may be bootable on some computers but not all.

As for old floppies, most of them have lost their magnetism and don't work. In that case, maybe the plastic can be melted down and recycled into something else, and the inner disc itself can be woven into a curtain or something :shrug:

[Muttocracy]

2. I think I mailed some to GreenDisk years ago - found them again

http://www.greendisk.com/

But they want you to pay to submit them. I think last time I was rebellious and just mailed them with no extra dough.

I'm sure most of these I don't need to be securely destroyed so I don't really need that certificate from them.

[DaveJ]

3. I hope their charge is nominal

I mean, what do you think they do with the disks? I know what can be done easily.... break apart the disks and separate the metal from the plastic. Put the plastic in a plastic recycle bin and the metal in a metal recycle bin. All for free.

Sorry, I don't know the material composition of all the parts, but maybe some Googling would offer a DIY on the topic.

[Gore1FL]

4. How useful does it need to be?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Floppy-Disk-Bag/

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf93947178.tip.html

[hobbit709]

5. "Pull" Bang!