I’ve been rationalising shelf space and transferred about 500 CDs and covers into plastic sleeves.
I have read that the material CD jewel cases are made from is not easily recyclable.
There is a company down south that does but only if delivered to them at your own expense.
That is a heavy box.
Has anyone found any practical use for them in the home or garden, crafty stuff for kids, anything at all?
I really don’t want to chuck them on the tip.
My local authority were happy for me to place them in with plastics and glass recycling for them to sort albeit that was nearly 6 years ago.
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Local council very choosy about what they recycle.
I had to dump mine for landfill. I could not find any company interested in using or recycling.
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I realise that it’s probably a bit late now but I once considered doing the same thing. However after much research I decided against it principally because it seems that many or even all of these sleeves can result in damage to discs through chemical interactions. This despite munuafacturer’s claims that they are safe. It could be that this will only be apparent after many years and may apply in some cases only for so-called ‘archival’ storage as in professional applications such as the BBC’s archives. Slimline cases are a much safer space saving alternative in my view although they won’t accept any inserts so some form of folder with indexing would be necessary for these. In the end I just decided to stick with the original packaging for safety and simplicity.
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CD cases are not recyclable as they’re made of a polystyrene that most local recycling facilities cannot process.
If you can find one, maybe a specialised recycle/reuse shop or organisation.
If you you do end up sending to refuse, they are general waste/landfill.
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I did some research and found the best compromise was to use additional sleeves for the CDs.
The material seems to be identical to the Nagaoka 102 anti static LP sleeves I’ve been using for over 30 years which I’ve never had a problem with.
A bit of extra faff but I did leave some of my faves in jewel cases.
Shelf space required has more than halved.
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Thanks for the responses about recycling (or not as the case may be).
A shame but unless I can give them away on local thrift sites then they are going to landfill.
They are polystyrene. 10 years or so ago I bought some black timber-like material made from recycled polystyrene, cd cases I was told, to make a pair of tall garden gates by glueing, so creating something maintenance free and longer lasting than timber gates. When I sold the house earlier thus year they still looked like new.
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It strikes me you’re getting rid of the wrong half of that CD. 
Hammer required.
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It’s a good album, unlike some of his stuff. (imho of course).
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£1 charity find for my other half’s pleasure.
I have a soft spot for Run to You though.
Being filed under Ad it happened to be the first of the B listers to be re packaged.
Don’t tell me you’ve no 80s bangers in your collection?!
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For every R.E.M. there is an REO Speedwagon.
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No comment. 
I’ve long since moved to local and network streaming so the opportunities for visitors to look at the CD racks and go “That’s not yours is it?” and for me to silently point at Mrs. H. have long since passed.
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A shame I didn’t see this about 20 years ago. When I moved to the UK from Canada, I brought with me just my CDs and inner booklets. I re-purchased about 400 Jewel cases, because I like to have them displayed on the book case.
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Juxtapositions are amusing.
Type O Negative followed by U2!
It’s vital that the discs come in original cases to preserve collectible authenticity.
I have many rare jazz CDs that would plummet in value if not as original. 
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I don’t (see above)
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Put about 60 jewel case in the recycling bin this week Council took them away.
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Our recycling centre has a bin for hard plastics. I tend to collect bit’s and bobs and put them in a spare bin, and every now and then, empty it at the centre.
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If archiving for streaming then reselling the CDs and preserving value won’t be an issue. In which case I think it is fine to just ditch the cases. Recycling if your council will take it. If not landfill but that’s your council’s failing not yours.
If you still play CDs though, I find even the most high quality soft layer sleeves do not preserve the CD surface if inserted and removed many times. So in the scenario where you use a CD player, I would be inclined to find dedicated shelving and keep the discs in the jewel cases. I bought my shelves from a commercial vendor that supplies shelving for retail.
It could be more difficult. It could be vinyl 
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