We love pianos! And the environment. And that is probably why we offer a unique service.

Every piano deserves our appreciation. From a historical, musical and ecological point of view. In our blog post "How do I dispose of my piano?" we describe different possibilities to part with a piano. Maybe there is an option for you to find a good place for the piano. If all efforts have failed, or if you do not have the possibility to continue with it, we are the right partner.

Even though in many cases recycling may be the only option, we examine all our options to find a way to preserve the piano. Even if there is no other option for the piano in the future, our offer for sustainable piano recycling is the most sensible decision. In this way, we return as many of the valuable materials as possible to the utilization cycle and help prevent environmental damage caused by improper storage or disassembly.

Disposal is not a show act.

Sustainable recycling is to a large extent the opposite of what happens today to discarded pianos when they are disposed of. Today, pianos are placed in the garden for weathering, set on fire, thrown from roofs as a show act, smashed and put in the trash. YouTube is full of video examples of such acts. Clear fun-factor, but not without danger and above all not really sustainable.

Cost-no, doesn't mean cost nothing.

In the best case, the instruments themselves or via piano transporters are handed in at scrap yards and recycling centres for a lump sum of mostly 150.00 - 250.00 euros. In some regions the instruments can be handed in at the recycling yard free of charge, in some places this costs a disposal lump sum of about 150.00 euros - and sometimes acceptance is refused. It always costs something, in case of doubt not directly - but indirectly the environment and thus the general public.

Junkyard? Not necessarily the best solution.

At the scrap yards, the pianos are then crushed by the excavator or lifted a few metres by the crane, dropped, and the residual materials are at best roughly separated - or as combustible waste - which is actually the official definition - and completely sent for incineration. The Bavarian Television has uploaded a nice BR short film on Youtube on the culture channel Capriccio (author: Rachel Roudyani).

Incinerator - clean air, highly toxic residues.

There are also potentially harmful substances in the piano, such as key or damper lead, which is often oxidized in old pianos, or excessive dust accumulation and mold growth. Even though our incineration plants in Germany are probably among the cleanest in terms of emission values, according to a Deutschlandfunk Nova article from 2017, several million tons of slag and filter ashes are left over every year as highly toxic residues that can only be locked away in mountain tunnels - and even this does not seem to be an undisputed method of permanently preventing possible future environmental damage caused by these substances.

We want to do it differently!

From our point of view, none of this is an appreciative or optimally environmentally compatible use of resources. We do things differently. As carefully and professionally as the raw materials were selected and processed at the time, we dismantle them into their components in order to supply them for new and suitable uses. Yes, this is the more difficult way and sometimes more cost-intensive. Nevertheless, we do our best to pay tribute to the piano and the environment at the possible end of the piano's life.

A piano weighs between 200 and 450 kg and contains about 10,000 individual parts, assembled in hundreds of hours. The many parts consist of valuable resources, which in turn have been processed using vast amounts of resources such as water and energy. Immaterial are the many memories and moments that a piano has experienced over the decades and in part helped to shape. Sustainable piano recycling requires expertise, specialized tools and processes, as well as know-how in the handling of old pianos and the recyclable and residual materials that have been used differently in the various eras. We are the first address for this.

On request, we can also document the final path of your piano for a small additional charge. In this way the external wounds and innards of the piano often tell a part of the exciting story.

What exactly do we offer?

We offer five ways to dispose of your piano, depending on the quality and condition of the instrument and the nature of the collection location. By "quality" we mean the quality of the construction of branded pianos, the allocation of keys and the presence of applications such as lights and fittings. The condition ranges from good original condition to defective due to critical substance damage. The condition of the pick-up location determines the level of transport costs, i.e. a pick-up from the ground floor without steps is considerably easier to realise than a pick-up from several floors. A higher fee is charged if the piano contains fewer recyclable materials, has a higher proportion of residues that are difficult to separate or recycle (e.g. modern varnishes, plastic coverings, etc.) - or additional pollutants / pest infestation (oxidates, mould, etc.).

In the majority of cases, it will only be possible to dispose of the piano for a fee, as you have certainly already tried other ways. Nevertheless, there are many arguments for making this investment. Here are a few examples of a good decision.

• 1. win 1st place - a piano takes up between 2 and 4 square meters of space, with an average gross rent in Germany of at least 10.00 Euro / sqm, you could therefore use the parking space, which is expensively paid at 240.00 - 480.00 Euro rent per year, for something else.
• 2. avoid maintenance costs - if you still have the piano tuned regularly every 12-18 months, which is necessary to maintain its value, the average of 120.00 euros will not be charged.
• 3. avoid cost increases - we suspect that the costs of disposal will tend to rise in the future and that sales opportunities for pianos will continue to fall rapidly, so that a speedy disposal will probably help to avoid costs
• 4. enable use - if there is still a chance for us to get your piano back into use, you will enable the piano and players to enjoy moments of joy again.
• 5. return resources - if the instrument can no longer be used, at least ensure a sustainable return of the recyclable materials into the cycles and help to reduce environmentally harmful raw material extraction.
• 6. promote health - old pianos can contain harmful substances (lead oxides, mould, dust,) and thus pollute the air in the room, so that disposal reduces this risk.

In order that we can check which of these options we can offer you for your piano, please fill in our "FASZINATIONPIANOLA instrument form" off. We will get back to you with an offer as soon as possible.