by Rose Begg

Created on: December 20, 2011

In the fast growing world of technology, CDs are soon becoming a thing of the past, but there are many ingenious ways you can salvage them by recycling. Not only does this reuse them (could save you some money too) but it the most environmentally friendly thing you can do. If you know how, there is nothing more satisfying than recycling.

Christmas tree Decorations

This is a good choice if you don’t have many materials apart from the CDs. You need: one or two CDs; stickers, permanent markers, or whatever you want to decorate the CDs with; some ribbon or string; some sticky tape.

First if you have two CDs stick them together with tape so that the shiny sides are showing.

Now it is time to decorate! You can use stickers, patterned sticky back plastic, colourful paper and ribbons. If you have any beads you could use them to make beautiful patterns or to make a fringe around the edge of the CD. Remember to leave the hole in the middle of the CD open. If you only have one CD you can decorate the non-shiny side- for a professional look try to not leave any gaps.

Lastly, just get your string or ribbon and create a loop going through the hole in the CD. You can make it as long or a short as you like.

It doesn’t have to be a Christmas decoration, you can hang them anywhere!

Although making a Christmas tree decoration is fun, there are other, more practical ways to recycle your old CDs:

An easy one is to make coasters out of them. You could decorate these as well. If you don’t want them to scratch the table you could glue on some felt or material from something like an old T-shirt. If you have the right materials, or are willing to buy a clock kit from your local craft store, they could make a funky, contemporary clock. CDs make a beautiful photo frame. Just cut the photo into about a three inch circle (it depends how thick you want the frame) and attach it to the centre of the CD with tape, double sided tape is hidden so looks better. Then cover up the back with felt or material from old clothes and glue it into a slot in base, or make one out of cardboard. They can be used to cut out free guitar picks. Just trace around an old one and cut it out! For a lot of CDs cut out lots of squares and rectangles. Glue them onto a flat surface to create a funky mirror or cool mosaic. They can be stuck to fences etc. to deter birds, rabbits and deer. Frisbees! For this you don’t need to do anything. You could use other old items as targets.

Mirrors are very versatile and can be used to decorate anything- birthday cards, folders books, or even clothes and walls! Have fun, do the green thing, and recycle.

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