We had a long distance relocation in recent years and I was given the task of reducing the size of our collection of music and movies. The VHS went to an auction. I will mention in passing that the packaging of Disney VHS tapes is atrocious. Box Board just makes more sense. The switch to compact discs has possibly helped reduce plastic use a bit, although it seems like people are buying more and more music and movies all the time.
I had to dispose of all the DVD cases and Jewel Cases from the accumulated collections of several people. It was a lot of plastic. Some of the jewel cases were given to good homes, but many worn or broken ones ended up at the landfill along with the DVD packaging.
A good solution for plastic reduction is purchasing legal downloads and buying discs in bulk. A 100 pack of DVD-R’s has a shipping weight of 4 pounds, mostly plastic. 100 jewel cases have a shipping weight of 18 pounds.
Paper sleeves can be purchased in bulk for around six cents each. Paperboard sleeves are closer to ten cents each.
I was at a concert once and asked the artist about buying some music while he was outside the small venue for a smoke. He went to his vehicle and came back and presented me with a cd in a Paperboard sleeve. The labelling was done by hand with a sharpy.
iPod and similar devices are and even better solution.
