VHS Tapes

VHS tapes should never be placed in your curbside recycling.

The film tape is a tangler that jams the sorting machines at the material recovery facility (MRF), and the hard outer shell is not recoverable or recyclable in a curbside collection.

Year-Round Drop-Off at the Solid Waste District 

Cuyahoga County residents can recycle unwanted VHS, cassette tapes, and floppy disks at the Solid Waste District. The District accepts these items year-round at 4750 East 131 Street in Garfield Heights. Drop items off in the lobby during business hours Monday-Friday from 8:30 AM-4:30 PM or Special Saturdays. Look for the labeled collection bin. No bags or boxes in the recycling bin, please. Place items loose in our lobby drop box and take all bags, boxes, and containers home with you.

Acceptable materials include video home system (VHS), audio cassette tapes, digital audio tape (DAT), digital linear tape (DLT), beta, digibeta, VHS-C, HI-8, mini-DV, 3.5” and 5.25” floppy disks, zip and jazz disks. Items are recycled by Greendisk. The company offers a mail-back service recycling program.

Learn more about recycling programs at the Solid Waste District.

Questions? Interested in partnering to collect these items locally in your group or community? Call (216) 443-3749 or contact us for details.

Other Drop-Offs

Locally, some specialized plastics recyclers may be willing to accept the hard plastic outer shell as a special drop-off item and recycle it for a small fee. You would be required to remove the film and dispose of it in the trash. Residents and businesses can find a list of options for post-industrial and post-consumer plastic in the Business tab below.

If you choose not to recycle your tapes, place them in the regular trash for disposal.

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Looking to recycle, donate, or dispose of other items? Use the dark blue 'What Do I Do With?' search bar at the top of every page of this website. Allow location services or use the city drop-down to find opportunities in your local area.