Considering pitching my junk wax...

[Gary Dunaier]

Dump 'em on the floor and swim in 'em...

(2:15 at the link)

[smrtn240]

give them to a young "generation alpha" getting into the hobby

[smrtn240]

by the way that video in the link is hilarious

[Mike D.]

People have mentioned burning and recycling, but I've been toying with an even "greener" approach...composting.

Junk wax era cards, as opposed to some super glossy later cards, are actual cardboard. If they were shredded, they'd work well as the "brown" in a well-mixed cardboard.

Wax boxes would also compost fine. I imagine the wax used in wax packs is petroleum based, as opposed to vegetable based, so they'd be out. I guess those would burn well if someone wanted to have that bonfire still.

I imagine most plastic wax wrappers would be recyclable in places that have plastic bag recycling programs.

In theory, if we could compost junk era cards en masse, we could solve a few problems:

It takes 20,000 pounds of compost to raise the organic matter in 1 acre of land 1%. To get 20,000 pounds of compost, you need about 200,000 lbs of raw organic material to decompose. Increasing soil organic matter makes it better at growing things, hold more water, and sequester carbon so that it's not released into the atmosphere.

Junk wax is near worthless because cards were produced by the millions. To see any substantial increase in value, a good portion of these cards would need to be removed from circulation.

5,000 cards weighs about 25 lbs. So, about 40 million cards per acre should do it.

I think when I build my larger composter this spring, I'll give it a try at a small scale and see how it goes.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by jchcollins

Thanks all for the replies. I did consolodate yesterday, but in the end I couldn't do it. '89 Donruss and '91 Fleer will live to see another day! LOL. In going through the boxes, I didn't find anything of tremendous value (I knew I wouldn't...) but I did find a few things of sentimental value - like a price sticker from a long gone favorite card shop in Charlotte, NC - that brought back a lot of memories. I'm sure it's worthless to about anyone else, but to me now this is a collection piece.

The rest of you are right, this really isn't taking up a lot of space - and in the end depending on how long I make it, I'm sure 1990's cards will be fun to look at as a senior citizen...

I have some boxes from childhood I have picked through through the years, but I find every time I do, I find something new that puts a smile on my face. I agree, unless that space is to be used for something you love more, keep them.