To throw old books into the recycling bin?

[Dixie81]

I read a lot. Almost all the books I buy are secondhand and rarely cost more than £3. I try to buy ebooks as much as possible but often the used paperback version is cheaper. I only have a small house so theres a limit to how many books I can keep and I reached that limit long ago.

The problem is trying to get rid of books I no longer want. Charity shops around here won’t take them. I tried a few online buyers but it cost more in postage, packaging and petrol than the books were worth and was far too time-consuming to deal with. They also refused to take a lot of the books and only wanted certain ones. I found one of those ‘little free libraries’ but the lady running it said they were inundated with books and having to dispose of a huge amount themselves. So I decided to put them in the recycling bin since that’s where they’ll end up anyway.

I mentioned this to my partner last night and he said it was a terrible thing to do. He thinks it’s disgraceful to throw any book out and not make the effort to pass it on to someone. I explained that I can’t find anyone who wants them but he seemed to think I should try harder regardless of the time and money it takes. For context, these are mass-produced paperbacks so I don’t see how it matters but I’m curious to hear what others think.

You could list them for free on Facebook marketplace place and see if anyone wants to collect them.

Why won’t charity shops take them? If they won’t take them, try selling them on the secondhand site World of Books. They have drop-off bins where you can take them to once you’ve finalised your selling arrangements. Much more eco-friendly than just putting them in a recycling bin, they’ll get a new lease of life and be read by someone else and you might get some money too.

Do you have a supermarket nearby they all have bookshelves or tables for book swaps here.

If they are mass produced paperbacks it isn't any worse than putting a newspaper or magazine in the recycling.

By all means try and give them away on Facebook or similar, but if you can't, once you've read them they're only paper.

There are charity collections that will pick them up from your home, even your doorstep. A friend did this for loads of things (clothes, duvets, toys etc) when doing an clear out.
Effortless, better for the environment and books shouldn’t be destroyed!

Put a “little free library” in front of your house.

We always take ours to national trust secondhand bookshops, if you have any near you that you visit.

Nobody will want them!

I know what you mean OP - somehow throwing away books seems so wrong when you consider things like the Nazi book burnings.

You have to accept that they have served their purpose. You bought them second hand and extended their life but now it is time for them to have a new purpose as recycled paper.

Publishers pulp tonnes of unwanted books all the time.

ETA: Sorry, got a bit melodramatic with bringing Nazi book burnings into it!

Our GP surgery has a shelf of books to take away/swap. Are there any shelters nearby which would want books?

Big table outside your house on a nice day filled with the books with a big sign saying Free To A Good Home?

Music magpie etc are the easiest I find, you scan them with your phone and send a box off for free. Often dont get much a book but they add up over a box.

https://anglodoorstepcollections.co.uk/donate-rehome-your-books/

I am 100% with your partner on this. Done the “hard” work for you

Oxfam will usually take books and I would check with all the local charity shops as some commit to taking anything.I would ask local community hospitals , if you have, and GPs surgeries if they are interested as locally they often sell books for nominal amounts to raise money. The other place to try would be your council tip , ours has a dedicated book bank collected , I think , by the Salvation Army.I would hate to bin a book in readable condition although I appreciate that doing the ‘right ‘thing can use a lot of energy.

Do you have a local honesty library? We have one in Tesco and also one at the shopping centre. Or maybe a local hospital would taken them? Seems a shame to bin them.

Everyone talking about charity shops etc - charity shops have to bin more books than they can ever sell and it costs the charity money to do this. Even our local jumble sale has stopped taking most paperbacks because it costs them money to dispose of the unsold books that the charity shop won't take.

If you can't give them directly to someone who wants to read them, recycling them is fine.

I should have mentioned that I’m in a very rural area. No one would see the books if I put them outside! There are no InPost lockers or anything like that near me and it’s a 40 min drive to the nearest town.

I think this is ok - particularly for things like Lonely Planet guides from 1997 that are literally of no use to anyone. And books get “pulped” frequently by publishers.

I think the idea you shouldn’t throw books away is being mixed up with Nazi’s burning books!!!

I have read that there is a problem with the binding having glue in it which makes it hard to recycle so you could always rip the pages out and just recycle the paper.

But World of Books is pretty good — you just scan in the barcode and box up any books they will buy and drop the box off at any parcel drop of they use.

Edit - just seen you are rural so ignore World of Books comment!

Books don't get recycled with the other paper and cardboard stuff because of the glue/binding so it's likely all your recycling will just go to landfill. Well done.

@Thefastandthecurious5

I volunteer in an Oxfam bookshop - there could be a few reasons.

Some charity shops only sell books that are in really good condition, so if the OP's books are deemed to be a bit too tatty, they may not be keen.

Some "general" charity shops may not make much money on books and may not think it's worthwhile accepting them if they think they're unlikely to sell.

Some charity shops may be overloaded with stock and unable to accept any at the moment.

Our local family centre (the children’s centre, food bank, clothes bank, hygiene bank) have an area for bric a brac bits and we take a lot there. They take books and games and people can buy them for a small donation and then they use funds to help stock up on hygiene or food items that they need.

I was just about to say this.

Charity shops can only try and sell books that are nearly new condition. Save on all the monetary and environmental costs of transporting books unnecessarily and put them directly in the recycling bin.

All the Oxfam ships have a big skip at the back and that's where the majority of the donated books end up. They can't possibly sell most of the books they get given.

I’m pretty sure you can’t recycle them so they will have to go into landfill.

This is what we’re heading towards as fewer and fewer people read anything.

Ask at your local tip/recycling centre. I had previously been told (on here) that you can’t recycle them but my nearest tip said I could, just to rip off any hardback covers, but the entire paperback could go in unless it had a shiny cover.

So ‘no you can’t’ is a thing that changes according to your local recycling abilities.

Edited - I mean straight into the paper/cardboard skip at the tip/recycling centre.

Our local tip has a book bin for readable books.

Charity shops dont "have" to sell nearly new books they choose too they can take books in good condition and sell them for 20p they WANT new books so they can sell them for a fiver