02 Jun Are Photos Recyclable?
It is spring cleaning season, friends. The weather is warming up, and the sun is shining. You have a to-do list full of ideas to make your home look fresh and fun. When you aren’t messing around with mulch, you’re going through closets creating more than a few donate, recycle, and trash piles. When you get to your photos, you ask yourself, “How do I handle the photos I don’t want anymore? Are photos recyclable?”
The short answer is no.
The longer answer is a little more involved. Yes, photographs appear to be on a paper substance, whether it is an antique card or a modern photo paper. Despite this, most photographs cannot be recycled because their chemistry is nonrecyclable.
Albumen photos, crayon portraits, black-and-white photos, and modern color prints have different developing processes. However, each process includes a chemical emulsion–a light-sensitive coating that sits on top of a substrate. Depending on the photo type and method, the emulsion ingredient list can include gelatin, mercury, silver, or plastic. You’re not supposed to recycle a can if there is a bit of food product in it; there’s no way you can recycle a photo with silver in it.
Resin-coated prints, also known as RC prints, are probably the most common photo type in your collection. This method became popular in the 1980s and is still used in some labs today. The emulsion is a plastic coating. If you tear the photo in half, you’ll clearly see the plastic layer. A recycling center cannot process this print or remove the resin coating.
While there are a few companies that recycle black-and-white negatives and film, most resources tell you to throw away your negatives, slides, and photos. What do you do if you don’t want to throw them in the trash? How do you dispose of photos you don’t want anymore?
Photo Recycling Alternatives
If you have photos you don’t want to keep and aren’t comfortable throwing them away, you have a few options available to you.
Give photos to relatives.
You may not be interested in your photos, but you may have a relative who is interested. There is a genealogist in every family who enjoys collecting photos and uncovering family history. In our experience, this interest skips a generation. If your children don’t want the images, check with your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or cousins. They may be happy to take them off your hands and save them for future generations.
Donate to museums or archives.
Donating photos and documents is a great solution if your family says “no.” Churches, historical societies, museums, and schools are taking initiatives toward growing their valuable collections. They cannot do this without generous donors. If you have a specific collection (i.e your father’s World War II photos, Baltimore County images), you can look up organizations that accept these materials. Donations are a great way to preserve your family history and give back to your community.
Sell photos online.
There is a collector for everything. If you think you have a potentially valuable photo, you can complete a quick online search to see if any similar photos have been purchased recently. However, most of your inventory is probably not collectible. That doesn’t mean you can’t sell them. People sell bundles of used postcards on Etsy for crafters. Why not photos? Get creative with your inner businessperson and make a little extra cash.
Upcycle photos, negatives, and slides for crafts.
Full disclosure: this is not our favorite solution. We get a little sad when we see people rip up books for crafts, and we feel the same way when we see a slide lampshade on Pinterest. But we are weird. You can use your photos for collages, homemade cards, stickers, ornaments, or whatever else strikes your fancy.
A Note on Storage
It’s easy to get swept up in a cleaning craze and throw things away without thinking it through. We’ve all been there. Keep in mind: you can buy a new pair of pants; you can’t buy your memories back.
One of the most popular articles on our site is “Toss or Keep: An Argument to Save Slides and Negatives.” We always advocate keeping slides and negatives. You may think you can digitize your photos and negatives and throw them away when you’re finished. But what happens if your computer dies or your cloud service fails? What happens if a new technology comes around and you can no longer access your images? (RIP CD Drives.) What if the digital file is too small to enlarge and you don’t have the original image to rescan or photograph? This is an unfortunate and all too common problem.
Instead of throwing photos, negatives, and slides away, invest in space-saving storage solutions. It’s easy to do on your own, and it will feel so satisfying when you’re finished. We have a guide with solutions and tips to help get you started.
Interested in photo restoration ideas? Check out our Guide to Photo Restoration.