“If you don’t take these we are going to throw them away.”   That was the message we got recently.  55,000 CDs.  AND we were given 18 days to accept and relocate the collection.  And it was a-way-out-west. 2,190 miles a-way-out-west. 

After we picked them up, the donor wrote, “Thank you all for your help on this. We did a good thing and avoided sending 1000’s of discs and plastic packaging into a landfill. A great Earth Day story! 🌍 ”  

This was a new wrinkle as to the value of a music archive. Lets say we round out the weight of an average CD (.60 oz), plus paper and/or a booklet (.20 oz) and the jewel case (2.5 oz).  so say 3.25 oz. on average.  Turns out there were more than 1000 heavier music DVD and 2500 plus or more box sets.  So we figure that’s a guessed/hedged/average of 178,750 oz.,  or 11,172 lbs.  That’s 11,172 lbs of plastic and metal and paper that DID NOT GO INTO A LANDFILL.

Now a lot of this collection is new, Asian, and only exists on CD.   Five and a half tons of cultural artifacts, not burnt, buried or lost forever.

Another good reason to donate to ARC and Happy Earth Day!