Try A Photo Treasure Hunt for Summer With Disposable, Recyclable or Replacement Film Cameras

A treasure hunt is fun and doing a photo themed hunt creates tangible memories.

Image by Jozefm84 on Pixabay

Eco-Friendly Photo Treasure Hunt

I was thinking about summer and what I might do when the weather improves. A treasure hunt popped into my mind but setting one up takes a lot of planning. Hiding clues, writing the clue riddles and so on. I remember doing one for my son’s 8th birthday.

Then I saw an article about a nature photo treasure hunt.

That’s perfect.

All we need is a list of things to look for and photograph. That’s a bit too easy though. So, I thought it would be fun to limit how many photos we can take. If we use our phones we might be too click happy and come home with hundreds of images.

To force a limit on the activity, I thought of disposable cameras. The film in these cameras is limited to 12 or 24 photographs. That way we can’t cheat. We must be intentional about finding the listed item. Whoever finds the most items and photographs them, wins the challenge.

I Don’t Want to Be a Hypocrite

The biggest problem with this idea is the disposable camera. I would feel like a hypocrite if I used something that was no better than single use plastics.

So, I was happy to learn that disposable or single use cameras are recyclable since most of the camera is made of plastic and some metal. In fact, Fujifilm has been recycling its disposable cameras since 1990.

Recyclable Components of a Disposable Camera

The casing, button, shutter, and lens are typically all made of plastic and may be recycled.

The film is made with a base layer of plastic and coated in a gelatin type substance.

The electrical parts that control the flash and shutter and often made of copper which is also recyclable.

Ask First

Before you send the camera in to develop the photographs, ask if they send the used camera to a recycling facility. You could ask if the developer has a recycling program.

Once they are pulled apart, the battery should also be sent off to a recycling facility.

These are simple cameras and are easy to pull apart and reassemble. So, manufacturers may pull it apart, put in a new film and battery and reassemble it for resale.

Replacement Film Camera is a Better Option

The more I read about disposable cameras, the more I disliked the idea. So I looked up replacement film cameras and found that they cost very little more than a disposable camera. I could buy a replacement film camera for about $10 to $15 more than a disposable camera and just replace the film.

That was a much better option. We could use the replacement film camera repeatedly because we don’t throw it away. All we do is put another roll of film in it. That way we can have many nature photo treasure hunts.

We can make a few summer photo scrap books this way.

Let the summer fun begin.

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