Yes, There Is A Guitar String Recycling Program

If you’re interested in helping progress towards a healthy environment and you work in the music business, you’ll be happy to know that there’s actually a recycling program for guitar strings. Established by D’Addario and now joined by Martin Guitars, the Playback program has already recycled over 3.9 million strings.

Playback string recycling is now available at many music stores, and there’s also an option to do it by mail as well. This is a needed program because it’s estimated that 1.5 million pounds of used strings end up in landfills every year.

The backbone of the Playback program comes from international recycling company TerraCycle, which not only recycles products, but also turns waste into new materials and products as well.  When the company receives old guitar strings, it first separates the metal from nylon. The metal is melted down and smelted into new allows, while nylon strings are recycled into new plastic applications.

It’s fairly easy to recycle your strings for Playback. Pack at least 2 pounds of strings into a container and print a free shipping label that you get from registering with D’Addario’s Players Circle. You can then earn points that you can turn into free products. Go here to register for the program.

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