Book Recycling

Whether it's reading an e-book, an instruction manual, or looking up research material, you may not need these types of books as much as in the past. Book recycling is becoming more and more common as companies and people are converting to computers. A growing number of companies and people are doing there best to reduce the amount of paper waste they produce. This is where book recycling comes into play.

Paper and paperboard products account for 33% of all the waste collected in the United States. A record-high was set in 2008; just over 57 percent of the paper consumed in the United States was recovered for recycling. Paper and paperboard products represent the largest portion of our municipal waste according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

There are many of programs centered on recycling, but how do you find one that does book recycling? Many recycling programs may not even do book recycling; yet they charge a subscription fee or are heavily subsidized by tax money. In spite of this there are a handful of companies who currently do not charge any money for book recycling.

There are companies that take the extra time and resources to process these books and actually recycle them to be made back into paper. Why is it so difficult to recycle books? Hardbound books are hard to recycle because of their heavy glue content, vinyl and low fiber content; most unused or obsolete hardback books end up in the landfill. Under some cases, these books are recycled through mulching and becoming compost or insulation.

Listed below are a few familiar products that are made from recycled paper:

Masking tape

Dust masks

Bandages

Coffee filters

Lamp shades

Insulation

Damaged or obsolete books can hurt the environment. You can reduce your impact on the environment by recycling your damaged or obsolete books. Book recycling can help the environment by: reducing energy and water consumption, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, saving considerable landfill space, and decreasing the need for disposal such as landfill or incineration which decreases the amount of CO2 produced.