Better World Books Blog - Book Reviews, Author Interviews, Community Outreach & more » recycling

EPA Award. W00t!

Dana — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 20:44:06 +0000

We like awards and we like the earth, so we’re pretty stoked to get an award from the EPA.

Yup. We’re mean and green and we’re proud of it. Okay well, we’re not mean but you get the idea. And so does the EPA. We were just awarded 2009 WasteWise Gold Award for Paper Reduction.

Wanna know why? We never throw a book away. Ever. Any used books we can’t sell are either sent directly to one of our non-profit literacy partners or are recycled.

We have diverted more than 32 million books from landfills while raising $7.6 million in funding for literacy and education initiatives worldwide through the sale of those books.

“Every year, almost a million tons of books are thrown away. We’re proud of our company’s accomplishments reducing that tremendous and unnecessary waste,” says our CEO David Murphy. “By moving discarded books out of landfills and back into the reading cycle, we’re not only helping the environment, but also raising money for good causes and promoting literacy. We are honored to be recognized by the EPA and to receive this WasteWise Gold award.”

So if you want to help us fight the good fight, get out there and hug a tree, then brush yourself off and buy some more used books!

For more information – check out the official press release!

Recyclers and the Library Division

admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:34:04 +0000

The Library Team is looking for new ways to partner with recyclers to re-use a portion of the books they receive. We’re big believers in finding a home for every book we can.

We recently joined the National Recycling Coalition as part of our continued effort to be green. We attended the 2007 Indiana Recycling Coalition state affiliate conference in Bloomington IN and it was great meeting so many other people as passionate about re-using and recycling as we are.

One of the organizations we met publishes newsletters for county recyclers. Trash Talk loved the Better World Books story and published an article about us that reached 1.5 million people!

Better World Books Teams Up with Recyclers!!

admin — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:22:40 +0000

Leon County Recycling Services & Education in Tallahassee FL has teamed up with Better World Books to help encourage our local universities to recycle their “no value” textbooks. At the end of each semester, the 50,000 Tallahassee students try to get some value back for the books they bought at the beginning of the semester. Inevitably, some of these books are worth nothing. That’s where Better World Books comes in. Normally the bookstores take these books back and throw them away as a service to their customers (students). However, BWB has developed a system for reselling, reusing or recycling textbooks.

Using their turnkey approach, no books wind up in the landfill, literacy programs benefit both with increased funding or books to distribute and kids of all ages can learn to read. In addition, BWB provides funding to groups on campus who serve as collection crews for the books. To date, BWB has diverted over 4,700 tons of books from going into landfills. They have also provided over 520,000 books and $2 Million dollars to various non-profits in the US and around the world.

In two book drives, Leon County diverted 3 tons of books from the landfill. Currently we are working with Florida State University but are planning on expanding to Florida A&M and TCC this summer. This is a very easy program for any local government to participate in. All you need is a contact at the University and some room to store boxes. BWB handles the rest! For more information check out Better World Books on the web at www.betterworldbooks.com.