How do you recycle fridge magnets?

Question

I'm interested in finding out what those cheap advertising fridge-magnets are made of . Can they be recycled?

I know they can be reused- eg for holding safety pins handy or putting prettier pictures on - however, I don't need any more of these - nor do my friends. I have a real problem with sending stuff to landfill.

Answer 1

I suppose the flat ones could be re-silkscreened with different advertisements on them.  For the crafty, hand-painted.

Molded magnets might be melted and recycled like normal plastic.  The iron (or magnetic material) might be seperable by peeling off the bottom, or magnetic methods while the plastic is molten.

Answer 2

I would give them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

Answer 3

Put them in a box and use them with children for sorting, just as good as 'granny's button box'!

Answer 4

Post an advertisement on freecycle.org.  You might find someone who is willing to take the magnets.  There are freecycle groups all over the country and the group is part of the Yahoo! users group.