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.

My mother fetishises books to the point that throwing even the tattiest cheap paperback away genuinely upsets her. Its very frustrating.

you could so easily have used your comment just to educate people because a lot of people wouldn’t know about the glue being an issue but instead you chose to use your post to put someone down. That says an awful lot about you and none of it it’s particularly flattering

Does she hate people dogear-ing books 😁

Not allowed to by whom? If it's an internal Oxfam rule, what is the reasoning behind it and can't it be challenged?

Not sure about the books you have already, but have you considered joining a library? Even if there isn't a branch nearby, you can get free e-books, usually with the Libby app. Cheap tablet or compatible reader? I prefer physical books, but I'd go e-book rather than chucking so many books any day! At least minimises the issue moving forwards.

World of Books or We Buy Books. Other sites may be available. Download app, scan barcode and they offer a price, pack in a box and they collect.

I take loads of books to charity shops. I swap with friends & colleagues and we have a book swap corner at work. No way would I throw books away.

@IfUndeliveredPleaseReturnTo

Not allowed by above/Head Office. Oxfam managers have targets to try to reach and it's a pretty stressful/high pressure role for very low pay - Oxfam managers often end up having to put in unpaid overtime in order to fulfil the most basic expectations.

There's a lot of pressure to make more money (to be fair, there always has been quite a bit of pressure in my experience, but it's increased quite dramatically as far as I can see) and having a minimum price means that stock will sell for a definitive certain amount. The general thinking is that if something can't be reasonably sold for £2.99, perhaps £1.99 in special circumstances, then it's not worth putting on sale at all.

I suppose our shop manager could try to challenge it, but it wouldn't do any good. While I personally do think that Oxfam overcharges somewhat, I also don't think we should sell books for 50p.

Charity bookshops have a limited amount of shelf space and often extremely limited storage space. They have rent and utility bills to cover, plus some staff costs (most shops have at least a part-time paid manager as well as volunteers).

If they stuffed the shelves with books at 20p or 50p, that might sit there for months or never sell at all, they would never make enough money to cover their costs, let alone produce funds for the charities running them.

At one point, my local Oxfam bookshop could have filled a whole wall just with multiple copies of the Shades of Grey, Harry Potter and Dan Brown books that people had donated. There would never have been enough demand to sell more than a handful of them, even at 20p.

Charity shops exist to make money for the charities, not to provide a waste disposal service for the public.

Personally I'd maybe do a 'we buy books' once a year, so you only have to sort and box them once a year rather than doing it individually, then take them into town next time you're going without worrying about timeframes.

But even then there will be some you don't want, and I think it's fine to get rid of them. Donating to a charity shop or free library when you know they won't be wanted is just passing on the emotional and physical labour of disposing of them to someone else.

Your partner sounds a bit overdramatic and judgy. "Terrible" and "disgraceful" to not pass on something worth about 25p in a car boot sale. How does he describe things that are actually awful?

Lots of unsold books get pulped without ever having been read. I'd tell him if he feels so strongly he is welcome to them. Bet he suddenly feels it's worth less effort when it's his effort!

@exexpat

In my shop, we a have a full-time paid deputy manager and a part-time paid deputy manager.

Put them in a box outside your house with a 'Free' sign. Most of the books have gone after a few days of dry weather when I have done this.

Or do you have a book exchange? There is a very popular one in a shopping centre in my town. Always lot of books donated and taken away. I have picked up a lot of cookery books from there and donated them back after using them.

It's sad to throw books away when they are in good condition.

Do any local churches have coffee mornings and might have or like to have a book corner?

Do you have ones of those boxes were you can put books you have finished in and someone else can take them?

It's fine to recycle them. I checked this with our council a while ago and they said they would take books.

Try https://readitswapit.co.uk/

Take them to the closest railway station, some do have the help yourself book rack.

I'm also an avid reader and buy paperbacks and I never bin them but you're right, many charity shops don't want them.
Do you have a local Morrisons? They all accept used books on a charity stand that they usually have near their customer toilets or cafes - I've given loads of my used books to them.
I also use icollectclothes.co.uk who will happily take books - I box up a load of books, write the charity from their list on the box and use their website to book a free collection - they come on the day and take your boxed books and job done and for every certain weight that's made for a certain charity, they get a certain amount of money - so books in this case (no pun intended) are an excellent choice to donate.
I go through a book per week and tend to put them in a box as soon as I've finished them and when it's full, I book a free collection - you don't even have to be in for them to be taken - you can leave them on your doorstep.

I love reading and hate the thought of binning a book, but certain genres aren’t a loss. Recycle them and don’t let anyone make you feel
guilty for it. Lots of books naturally come to the end of their life, it isn’t as if you are binning rare editions.

I have worked in book publishing. It is perfectly acceptable to pulp books. Recycling centres normally have book recycling.

@AddictedToBooks Thanks so much for posting about icollectclothes. I’d never heard of them but have just booked a collection.They support a charity very close to my heart too.

@Dixie81 "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."

Easy...
Put them all into cardboard boxes and give them to your partner to dispose of. He'll obviously be so much better at doing the task than you are.

Honestly, throw them in the recycling bin. How many hours of your life would people have you water driving around dropping them off in multiple places 🙄🙄 the same people throw out all manner of stuff without a second thought im sure.

How do you think libraries get rid of books?

Recently took a whole bunch to the tip as you can toss them in cardboard here, as same issue as you, charity shop won’t take and fairly rural so things like Vinted aren’t really a viable option.