Netflix has already shut down its DVD‑by‑mail business, and the company’s main plan for all those discs was to recycle most of them, donate some, and quietly let many of the rest walk out the door with customers.

Quick Scoop

1. What officially happened to the DVDs?

  • Netflix ended its DVD‑by‑mail service on September 29, 2023, after 25 years of red‑envelope shipments.
  • A company representative said there were no plans to sell the DVD arm as a separate business.
  • Instead, Netflix said most of the inventory would be recycled through specialized third‑party recyclers, with some discs donated to film and media organizations.

In other words, there was never a public “mass sale” of the catalog; the strategy was more about controlled disposal and goodwill donations than squeezing out a last round of profit.

2. “Wait, didn’t they just give a bunch away?”

  • As the shutdown approached, Netflix offered remaining DVD subscribers a “finale surprise”: they could opt in to receive up to 10 random extra discs from their queue in their last shipment.
  • At first, messaging implied discs still had to be returned, but in August 2023 Netflix clarified that it would not charge for any unreturned discs after September 29.
  • The company publicly told customers to “enjoy your final shipments for as long as you like,” effectively turning those discs into free keepers.

So a significant chunk of the library simply dispersed into people’s homes as a farewell gift, red envelopes and all, which are now mini‑collector items.

3. What about the rest of the stockpile?

For the discs that didn’t go out in those final mailings, Netflix described a two‑part path:

  • Recycling: The bulk of the remaining discs and materials would be recycled by companies that specialize in handling that type of plastic and media.
  • Donations: Some portion would be donated to organizations focused on film, media, and education, rather than going straight to the landfill.

This approach lines up with Netflix’s public messaging: no grand auction, but a mix of environmental responsibility, low‑key giveaways, and institutional donations.

4. Forum‑style reactions and speculation

“Are they really just destroying all that physical media?”

On tech and entertainment forums, you see a few recurring viewpoints:

  • Nostalgia crowd: People mourn the loss of a way to access obscure or out‑of‑print titles that aren’t on streaming, and some wish Netflix had sold the whole DVD operation or the surplus discs to a third party.
  • Practical view: Others point out the licensing minefield—selling discs or the business itself at scale would be legally and logistically messy, so recycling plus donations is the low‑friction exit.
  • Collector mindset: A subset is just happy they get to keep their last Netflix DVDs and envelopes, treating them as quirky souvenirs from a past era of home video.

Some fans fantasized about Netflix offloading the DVD unit to a niche rental company, but Netflix explicitly said it wasn’t going that route, and by late 2023 the shutdown was basically final.

TL;DR: When people ask “what is Netflix going to do with all the DVDs,” the real answer is: they already did it—many went home with customers for free, most of the remaining discs are being recycled, and some were earmarked for donations to film‑related organizations, not for a giant public sale.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.