String Recycling Program

[Dylan]

Hey, I just wanted to raise awareness that D'Addario has a string recycling program. You send in old strings and get points towards a new set. I know it takes a lot of points to earn a new set, but the environmental impact of deciding to recycle is huge. Below is an excerpt from a paper I did on it:

According to my data, the average guitar player plays about 5.5 hours of guitar per week. Also the average guitar player goes through a set of guitar strings every month, meaning they go through twelve sets per year. In grams, this means that the average guitar player would go through 16.5 grams per month ([132/4]/2) or 198 grams (16.5x12) per year. Assuming the average player continues at this rate for a lifetime of a modest forty years of guitar playing, they would amass around 7,920 grams of metal during that time. In pounds, this number totals around 17 pounds and 7 ounces. While this may not seem like a staggering number, it is important to remember that this is just solid metal, nearly all of it, if not all of it, can be melted and reused.
While it is difficult to estimate the number of guitar players in the US to find a total number of weight that could be saved per year, D’Addario (daddario.com) estimates that every year, 1.5 million pounds of instrument strings could be put into landfills. This is quite a staggering number considering how little effort is involved on an individual player’s part. In the near future, the guitar strings will be mailed to D’Addario to be recycled.

[Silly Moustache]

This is an excellent idea, but I am very disappointed that D'addario UK will not introduce it in the UK/EU...as I've frequently written to tell them.

[pickitPaul]

Mr. Silly Moustache: I know you are in the U.K. but they have a program in France if that helps?

http://www.daddario.com/daPlayback.Page

[Silly Moustache]

Originally Posted by pickitPaul

Mr. Silly Moustache: I know you are in the U.K. but they have a program in France if that helps?

http://www.daddario.com/daPlayback.Page

Really ? I'll check it out, thanks.

[bobwl]

Originally Posted by Dylan

Hey, I just wanted to raise awareness that D'Addario has a string recycling program. You send in old strings and get points towards a new set. I know it takes a lot of points to earn a new set, but the environmental impact of deciding to recycle is huge. Below is an excerpt from a paper I did on it:

According to my data, the average guitar player plays about 5.5 hours of guitar per week. Also the average guitar player goes through a set of guitar strings every month, meaning they go through twelve sets per year. In grams, this means that the average guitar player would go through 16.5 grams per month ([132/4]/2) or 198 grams (16.5x12) per year. Assuming the average player continues at this rate for a lifetime of a modest forty years of guitar playing, they would amass around 7,920 grams of metal during that time. In pounds, this number totals around 17 pounds and 7 ounces. While this may not seem like a staggering number, it is important to remember that this is just solid metal, nearly all of it, if not all of it, can be melted and reused.
While it is difficult to estimate the number of guitar players in the US to find a total number of weight that could be saved per year, D’Addario (daddario.com) estimates that every year, 1.5 million pounds of instrument strings could be put into landfills. This is quite a staggering number considering how little effort is involved on an individual player’s part. In the near future, the guitar strings will be mailed to D’Addario to be recycled.

The numbers get even crazier if you think about bass strings as well. I sent in a pretty big box in to them last year, and have started a new box this year. It is pretty easy, and it is nice that they pay for you to ship it in to.

[Silly Moustache]

mm, just spent five minutes peddling through the Daddario site to get on the recycle programme but at the end it insists that it is fr the USA only.

Useless.

[redir]

Cool! I did not know they had such a program. I think I will get a Tupperware box and just toss them in till the end of the year then ship them off.

[Kyle215]

I was thinking of starting a thread on this too, but wasn’t sure if I’d be stating the obvious to folks here. Great program though, always hates throwing that stuff away.

I suppose if anyone lives in an area where the program isn’t available, they could just bring the strings to a local scrapper. Metal is metal, after all.

[stormin1155]

The recycling program is also part of the Players Circle program where you get points for registering codes from purchased D'Adderio products. Those points count up pretty fast, and can be used to purchase D'Adderio products.

[Mattface]

Did anyone else notice you have to save up at least 2 pounds of strings before you can mail them in? I haven't weighed a set sans packaging, but a set of Martin Marquis mediums in the packaging comes in at roughly 1.5 ounces. So you have to save up 30 sets of strings before you can mail them in?!! How is that even remotely useful to the average player?

[Twin Six]

My wife collects my old strings and puts them to some ingenious uses, so my old strings get saved anyway. Good to know I can recycle strings for more strings.

[Kyle215]

Originally Posted by Mattface

Did anyone else notice you have to save up at least 2 pounds of strings before you can mail them in? I haven't weighed a set sans packaging, but a set of Martin Marquis mediums in the packaging comes in at roughly 1.5 ounces. So you have to save up 30 sets of strings before you can mail them in?!! How is that even remotely useful to the average player?

I just keep them in a big ziploc bag in a out-of the way place... for me I’m just happy to know that they’re not being thrown away.

[Cameleye]

My pickin' friends and I pool our used strings in one large box in my basement. When that fills up, I'll send it along to D'A.

[Taylor Ham]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

mm, just spent five minutes peddling through the Daddario site to get on the recycle programme but at the end it insists that it is fr the USA only.



Useless.

Originally Posted by Mattface

Did anyone else notice you have to save up at least 2 pounds of strings before you can mail them in? I haven't weighed a set sans packaging, but a set of Martin Marquis mediums in the packaging comes in at roughly 1.5 ounces. So you have to save up 30 sets of strings before you can mail them in?!! How is that even remotely useful to the average player?

While the limited scope of the program may be frustrating, we must keep in mind that recycling is a balancing act. In this case, it wouldnt make sense to expend energy(fuel, carbon) time and money on less than 2 pounds of strings, or to ship 2 pounds of strings half way across the globe. The energy and material savings would not offset producing 2 pounds of new strings.

[Earl49]

Agreed, Taylor Ham. If you analyze all the costs and energy expended, it simply is not worth it. The main thing actually worth recycling is aluminum, which requires expensive electric arc furnaces to refine from bauxite ore into pure metal. Perhaps re-using old motor oil for other things is worthwhile too, keeping it out of the water table. Mostly recycling keeps some cubic volume out of landfills, but at a significant cost in energy. JMO. I further believe that in a century or two when many resources are really strained, landfills will become very valuable mine sites to reclaim what we have thrown away in the past.

I recycle my old strings by saving them up for a friend who does wire knitting and braided art projects like bracelets. Guitar strings work well for him.