Remington Power [powder]Drive

local police dept and ask them to pick them up for destruction/disposal

Fireplace is always interesting. (Kids, don't try this at home.)

Our local recycler takes ammo, it appears. I got a flyer from them yesterday and that was on there. Surprise, surprise.

Everyone has told me how to dispose of them, but no one has told me IF I need to do so. CP

You are probably aware of this but Remington cartridges come in different powers. Gray or brown are the lower power cartridges, green and yellow are medium power and red is the highest power. see:

Correction: Red or Purple are the highest power.

You said it yourself. Their performance was compromised, indicating that you thought you should get rid of them.

Microwave?

Seem to recall that back in the mid 90's some brands used a numbering system. In either case, if they are consistently lower in power and you have a use for them at that lower power, use them up. Otherwise dispose of them...

I have a 30 year [plus] old Rem. powder driver. I went to use it and the charges seem to have lost their strength. Is this normal? If so how does one dispose of the cartridges? Thanks, CP

That may vary by jurisdiction, but here is my experience with similar disposal. A friend of mine asked me about disposing of a bunch of ammunition. Some factory and some reloads, that was in a house he bought at a repo sale. I called another friend who is fire captain for Rural Metro and asked. He said they have people bring ammo to the fire stations sometimes, and anything that's question just goes in the trash. That kind of surprised me, but its what he said, "unofficially." He said it might be different if you were disposing of several large cases, but for a few boxes they just thank the citizen and toss it in the trash after they leave.