History of the VHS Video Tape

The first successful consumer video system, the Video Cassette Recording or VCR, was introduced in 1972 by the Dutch electronics company, Philips. Today, this acronym remains synonymous with any home video device even though that original system no longer exists. The next system aimed at the home market, came from Sony in 1975 with the introduction of the Betamax system, casually referred to as "Beta." Sony presented their system to various electronics manufacturers hoping that a single and agreed upon system would be more profitable for everyone in the industry and less confusing for consumers.

Sony's attempts to introduce a unified home consumer video system failed when the Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) refused the offer and chose to pursue the development of their own standard, the Video Home System or VHS. This standard was released in 1976 and marked the start of the videotape format war as the two tape formats fought for market dominance. While Betamax was regarded as a technically superior format to VHS and offered better image quality, the longer playing time, faster rewinding and fast-forwarding of the tape and less complex tape transport mechanism offered by VHS eventually won out with consumers. Eventually, Betamax's use and popularity would diminish among the home viewing public except among a few die-hard users and enthusiasts, leaving VHS as the ultimate winner and the mainstay in living rooms for more than a decade.

Technical Details and Materials Used
The VHS cassette consists of a plastic clamshell that is held together by screws with a half inch wide magnetic tape wound between two spools. When inserted into the tape player, the machine pulls the tape from the cassette and wraps it around the head drum, as seen in figure 1. The head drum decodes the information stored on the magnetic tape to display video and sound information.

The materials used to make the standard VHS tape consists of various plastics like polystyrene, polyethylene and polypropylene. These materials are pretty durable and left on their own, can last for as long as 20 years before the material begins to degrade. The information which is stored as aligned magnetic particles, is far more volatile and over time will degrade, even with proper care and storage conditions.

The plastics used in the VHS tape are known to emit toxic chemicals and vapors and should not be discarded in the trash as they are potential pollutants, especially if buried in a landfill. So it is advisable to either donate, recycle or properly process tapes that you no longer have any use for, especially after you have finished your conversion process. If you are unsure of what can be done, there are a myriad of options available to you, some include:

· Donating your old movies
If there are old per-recorded tapes that you no longer need, such as old movies, you can donate them to libraries and some charities. Your local library may still use VHS tapes as part of their media collection and may be happy to receive them.

· Selling and Trading
Believe it or not, there are some traders and collectors out there who may be interested in buying your old collection and they cay be found on internet sites that specialize in the trading of unusual items. You can also donate to your local thrift shop. Keep in mind that VHS is an obsolete medium, so you won't be getting a lot of money but at least you will get those tapes off your hands.

· Recycling Centers
If your community has a center that recycles plastics, you can bring your old tapes in. The tapes will be destroyed and shredded and reprocessed to make new plastics.

· Recycling around the House
If recycling is not done in your community, there are still some creative options. You can transform those old video tapes into something new and useful. The plastics that make the tape is very durable and can, for example, be woven into a hand-bag. With a little flair and imagination, what you can create is bound only by your imagination.

As you complete the conversion process of moving your tapes to DVD, you may find yourself with a stack of unwanted media that takes up more space than is desirable. But with a little research, creativity and effort, your old tapes can find new life, either in a new home or as something new entirely.

Internet Resources on Recycling VHS Tapes

Free Cycle - http://www.freecycle.org
You can offer up your old video tapes and see if a collector wants them. The process is a simple social-media model. You advertise what you want to get rid of and see who wants it.

Green Disk - http://www.greendisk.com
This company will accept and recycle any old electronics and computer waste and this includes old video tapes. You will need to pay a small fee to mail your trash to them and those old tapes will be out of your hands. It's a pretty decent deal if there are no recycling centers near where you live.

Recycle This - http://www.recyclethis.co.uk
This site is filled with recycling ideas and has several to-do articles, some of which include ideas for recycling your old tapes. One article featured on the site tells readers how they can use their old VHS tapes to keep garden bugs and pests away from their plants.

My Recycled Bags - http://www.myrecycledbags.com
If arts and crafts is something you're good at, one of the articles on this site shows you how to weave a VHS tape into a versatile handbag.