The best plasticless option for watching movies is to LEGALLY download them onto your computer. The most convenient way to watch movies is to buy or rent DVDs. If you have a collection of DVDs, a cheap and environmentally friendly way to watch some fresh content is to join LendAround. Here are the basic facts as presented on LendAround.com:
The average household has over 10 DVDs.
The average web user has 25 friends.
If you share, that’s free movies for five years.*
LendAround has lots of typical social media components and it is linked up to Facebook. I think the site will appeal to people who like showing off their refined eclectic taste in movies and it will appeal to people who like to virtually nose around in other people’s stuff. The frugal aspect is icing on the cake. If I lived in a less obscure place, I would enjoy participating. If I was participating, I would bemoan the fact that I sold or gave away all of my DVDs before I moved. The kids still have a few cherished ones, like Harry Potter. I suspect that almost everyone who wanted to watch that movie has a copy of their own.
I didn’t find the perfect picture to accompany this post, but browsing through flickr opened my eyes to just how huge some people’s DVD collections can get. This is a LOT of plastic. I really wish the industry would change to a minimal packaging standard, preferably one without plastic.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Interesting post. You said you’d enjoy taking part ‘if I lived in a less obscure place’ and if you hadn’t given away many of your DVDs.
But what our users at LendAround are finding is that even what seems like a really small collection - half a dozen movies, say - can still give you a new movie to watch every week for a year if you contact friends, colleagues, neighbors or family and get them to share with you.
And physical location doesn’t matter — using our wrappers, you can mail a DVD to a friend for only 42 cents if they’re far away. Local video stores are always offering promotions, but not too many go that low in price…