Stumbled on a stat that 90% of old film cameras get thrown out instead of repaired

I found that number in a 2018 recycling report from some university in California and it just hit me how many beautiful Pentax K1000s and similar bodies must be sitting in landfills right now, has anyone else seen those numbers or am I reading it wrong?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_gonzalez116d ago

Wait, that 90% number sounds a bit off to me. I've been around old cameras for years and most folks I know who find them just toss them in a drawer or sell them for cheap. Landfills take stuff that's broken or unwanted, sure, but a lot of those bodies get scooped up by collectors or scrapped for parts before they hit the dump. That stat might be lumping in all film cameras, not just the good ones like the K1000. You're probably overthinking it unless that report had a really narrow focus on something like consumer recycling habits.

emma9614d ago

@spencer_gonzalez1 probably isn't wrong but that stat feels right if you count every broken point-and-shoot hitting the trash.

fiona_carr2616d ago

If you come across old film cameras at garage sales or thrift stores, grab them and list them on eBay as "for parts or repair." I've personally saved a handful of Minoltas and Canons that way, stripping them for lenses and spare parts people actually need. It beats tossing them in the trash and keeps those classic bodies out of the dump for a bit longer.