How to Recycle Old Records

Check your record albums to determine whether you have any that can be sold for a good profit by looking at a price guide from a company such as Continental Records, Music Price Guide, or Pop Sike. You can sell valuable records to retailers such as Princeton Record Exchange, Gemm, or Jive Time Records. Some albums are very valuable and can get you hundreds of dollars just for the cover alone.

Sell your records to a store such as Half Price Books or Records on the Web. They will pay only a fraction of what the records are worth, but they will ensure the records get resold and, therefore, recycled.

Frame any record album covers that you like and use them as décor. This works especially well when decorating preteen and teen bedrooms, family rooms and home offices. You can even give framed album covers as gifts.

Make a posting on an online classified ads website such as Kijiji or Craigslist and either sell the records or offer to give them away for free. Many people collect or still listen to vinyl albums, so they will be put to good use.

Have a garage sale and include your old records. Alternatively, if a neighbor is having a garage sale, ask if you can donate your records on the condition that they return or recycle any albums that don't get sold. In exchange, you can let your neighbor keep the profit from any records they are able to sell.

Take the album covers you do not plan to keep to your local recycling center. Most recycling centers will accept record album covers since they are typically made of cardboard.

Donate any records that you cannot resell to your local vintage store or nonprofit resale store (such as Goodwill). Alternatively, you can donate them to companies that make consumer products from vinyl records, such as Vinylux or 45 iPod Cases.