A product life cycle of vinyl cassettes?

Answer 1

Cassette tapes are not made of vinyl. Cassettes have a plastic shell which can be recycled, but the tape inside has metal particles fused to it, so is difficult to recycle.

In marketing terms, the product life cycle of cassettes has been:

Development and manufacturing (the cassette was invented in the late 60's).

Consumer Use (most commonly from the mid-70's to early 90's)

Obsolescence (mid 90's to current).

The product lifespan of a cassette depends greatly on the quality of the formulation and storage conditions, but average lifespan without significant degradation (without use) is about 15 years.