What to do with 125 reels of 2" tape?

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 9:57 am

Trying to find a place to recycle a bunch of used 2" tape.

Are the actual reels/flanges and all worth anything?

Been paying for storage on this stuff for years.

Ready to chuck it all but would rather find it a home.

Located in Brooklyn.

Any ideas?

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 10:03 am

I say chuck it.

I did a tape transfer job two years ago.

80 some reels of mostly 2" multi track, plus some 1/4 as well.

I only kept the old formulation ones, acetate, which also were now-famous-people
doing their thing on the tape.

But the rest : A la garbage recycling thing.

The tape istelf - trash.

The boxes and reels, into the recycling.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 10:05 am

I think you can recycle the flanges, or sell them...I don't know if there's a real good way to recycle the actual tape. Maybe someone would know at your local facility?

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 11:14 am

kslight wrote:I think you can recycle the flanges, or sell them...I don't know if there's a real good way to recycle the actual tape. Maybe someone would know at your local facility?

I'm mostly asking about the flanges & hubs. If anybody would want them or where to take them/sell them.

We've asked all over about recycling and gotten no answers really.

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 3:02 pm

They can be recycled as most are made from aircraft aluminum.

I did try to sell my old flanges here and in other places...

No luck for 6 months. so off they went to turn into something else,
hopefully something as cool as tape flanges.

Like BMX bike parts.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:40 am

Not sure what to do.
I think it would take 2 guys 2 days to get all the tape off of the flanges.
As much as I want to re-cyclie what I can I don't think I can afford either the time my self or to pay someone to do it.

Waltz Mastering · Post by **Waltz Mastering** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 11:09 am

Check out http://tapetape.com/

I sold about 75 reels of 2" 8 years ago. No splices and stored well
996, 499, Basf 911, 900, .. some 456 < doesn't age great.

Pick up/shipping was arranged by them. gl

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 4:48 pm

From wikipedia...

Aluminium recycling is the process by which scrap aluminium can be reused in products after its initial production. The process involves simply re-melting the metal, which is far less expensive and energy-intensive than creating new aluminium through the electrolysis of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), which must first be mined from bauxite ore and then refined using the Bayer process. Recycling scrap aluminium requires only 5% of the energy used to make new aluminium.[1] For this reason, approximately 31% of all aluminium produced in the United States comes from recycled scrap.[2] Used beverage containers are the largest component of processed aluminum scrap, with most UBC scrap manufactured back into aluminum cans.[3]

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun Oct 11, 2015 8:36 pm

Unless there were edits across the tape, I'd be surprised if you couldn't get rid of it all on eBay. I think there are enough people still buying up older multitrack machines that it would be worth it to try to get rid of that way. I did that with most of my old 2", although that was about 10 years ago, when the big tape scare thing happened. Still, I'd bet that if you had the time and patience and just wanted to make a couple bucks here and there while not putting them directly in the dumpster, you might have some luck with that. I'm prepared to be wrong about it, but it would be an easy enough experiment with a couple of reels at a time.

Also, for whatever it's worth, I have bought from the TapeTape guy and he's a totally cool dude to work with. It's sort of a good thing he's had going on for a long time, so it might be worth contacting him, as well.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Mon Oct 12, 2015 6:40 am

cgarges wrote:Unless there were edits across the tape, I'd be surprised if you couldn't get rid of it all on eBay. I think there are enough people still buying up older multitrack machines that it would be worth it to try to get rid of that way. I did that with most of my old 2", although that was about 10 years ago, when the big tape scare thing happened. Still, I'd bet that if you had the time and patience and just wanted to make a couple bucks here and there while not putting them directly in the dumpster, you might have some luck with that. I'm prepared to be wrong about it, but it would be an easy enough experiment with a couple of reels at a time.

Also, for whatever it's worth, I have bought from the TapeTape guy and he's a totally cool dude to work with. It's sort of a good thing he's had going on for a long time, so it might be worth contacting him, as well.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Thanks Chris.

Every reel has leader tapes on it.
This is one of these things that is a whole lot more difficult in NYC.
The tapes are stored off site and we have to get them out of where they are very soon.

I will look up the TapeTape guy.

honkyjonk · Post by **honkyjonk** » Wed Oct 14, 2015 8:27 am

If you sold 'em at 10 bucks a reel, that's $1200. Seems like a no brainer to me. And it's more than worth it to get the flanges for folks who'll be buying pancakes.

Just start with craigslist. I bet you'll have someone who'll buy 20, another who'll buy 30 etc.

If it's not worth that sort of hassle to make a good amount of money, well, I wish I had your problem.

Probably many good reels in there too.

If you sell it to the tapetape dude, he'll sell all of it saying it's 1 pass, no shedding.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:24 am

Tape tape never got back to me.

Anybody in the NYC vicinity want some tape?

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:57 am

Strikes me it could make a hell of a art project ...

Are there any studios that might use it? I think recall Lenny Kravitz making a big deal about tape years ago, Dan Auerbach more recently, and his best friend Jack White ... Don't know if any of them is in NYC.

roscoenyc · Post by **roscoenyc** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:26 am

They are used tapes with leaders on them.

Spark · Post by **Spark** » Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:05 pm

If they still have the tape on them, tis the season to go TP'ing...

just sayin.

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What to do with 125 reels of 2" tape?

What to do with 125 reels of 2" tape?

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