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.

No excuse to bin books. Offer them for free in FB or take to care home/school/hospital/doctor surgery.

Oxfam is notorious in the second hand book buyers and collectors world for charging high prices, they've got to pay for all those third world sex workers somehow.

Aren't you lucky other people don't just throw them away after reading them, so you could buy them cheaply. Shame about the people who would like them after you but can't have them because you're throwing them away 🙄

@hallomynameisinigomontoya

I don't think you're being fair. The OP explained that she would try to pass them on if it was feasible, but the local charity shops won't accept them and she doesn't make any profit on selling them due to the cost of postage/packaging.

Maybe read the thread properly?

Just sell them on World of Books?

There are loads of places that will pick up books, webuybooks, wob, the charity listed before. Sell bundles on vinted or eBay, royal mail collects parcels.

They asked if it was unreasonable to recycle them. Yes, it is if they are taking advantage of being able to buy second hand books and then are destroying them and removing them from the second hand pool.

Who are these people and where are they? Maybe you should get in touch with the OP and pass them on for her?

You're right. I'm sure the op and the original purchaser are the only people who want to read that book.

I did this recently with a pile of maybe 50 books. They wanted about 20 of them - you don’t just pack them all in a box, you scan them with their app and it tells you if they want them and what they’ll pay for them. They rejected another 5 or 6 because they were damaged after they’d received them. I got paid about £8 in the end and still have 30 books to get rid of.

I donate and buy from charity shops every week. Never have I ever heard of any chronic shop refusing donations of books. Stuff’s they can’t sell yes but that’s never books I don’t think.
if that is the case id find one that will accept them. Throwing stuff away that still has plenty of life in it is something I can’t do.

We have a Tesco charity bookshelf.
Otherwise if you do want to bin, maybe rip the pages out and throw outside part in the bin.

Oxfam are useless; they charge too much.
I saw a seconhand book in Oxfam I wanted, which wasfar too dear, but managed to buy a BRAND New copy from Sainsburys or similar, for 5.00.
Where I live, there are several free depositories, such as the station; even Wetherspoons, and I have seen some in disused telephone boxes.
Our local Doctor's surgeries stopped taking magazines during Covid. I do not know about books, but I think they did have a free depository at one time.
Also around us, apart from charity shops are some large bin collections, in the supermarket car park.
Try any of these kind of places, first.
Apart from that, I think this is a lesson to recycle books as you go along, so you don't have too many around if you lack that kind of storage.
Otherwise, then if you do not have the space, then yes, you will just have to throw them in the recycling bin.

Bullshit.

On SM, it's notorious for people not showing up. Personally, I don't use FB. They would likely just sit and rot still be in her house.

Health care facilities no longer want old books. Books can have bugs they don't want to deal with.

Old paperbacks just don't sell unless they're a much sought after out of print one or signed by certain authors. Those are few and far between.

She can dispose of them in the best way that suits her.

Put them in the recycling bin. You can buy a box of 40 second hand books on Amazon. There is little demand for them. There’s no point in cluttering up the house with books you’ll never read again.

Years ago, before kids when we had money, our dining room was also a library and we had hundreds of books. It looked amazing but we were never going to read 99% of them again and when we moved we couldn’t get rid of them. Nowadays, Kindles mean there’s even less demand. I read probably a book a week but I haven’t bought a physical one in over a decade.

YANBU.

I had the same problem. Hundreds of books, some of which I had owned for decades, taking up far too much space. I managed to offload some to an Oxfam bookshop, but they stopped accepting them so I had to bite the bullet. Chucking the first few into the recycling bin was hard, but it definitely got easier until I was binning them by the dozen.

Books are just ink & paper, not holy relics.

I recycle some of mine and make them into journals. Stick the pages together to make them thicker then use for art or junk journalling:

I feel like you have done all you can to rehome them so yanbu at all

Jeff Bezos could up his popularity by accepting all donated books and selling them - maybe thats a scheme that amazon run 👀

I work in a community hospital and we would love donations of books.

We have a bookshelf on our estate for unwanted books, there's usually a good rotating selection.
I think that charity shops are pretty fussy about what they'll take now, apparently they simply recycle books that they think won't sell, so unless they're really nice books it probably makes sense to recycle them yourself.

Sell your books (or similar apps)

The ones that they don't want need bagging up and offering on Trash Nothing.

I have away a car full of books so some bloke who came and took them all. Don't care if he's stocking a bookshop with them - I just couldn't bear the idea of throwing them away.

The recycling bins at the tip are often full which means they go into general waste.

Books tend to not sell quickly compared to bric-a-brac and clothes, so a small charity shop will not have the space for them.

Our local council does ask people to take off the spines/binding. Its very hard to recycle them otherwise as it gums up the machines

Freecycle, Olio, FB marketplace , Ebay-
there are lots of ways to rid yourself of these books, l have also never heard of charity shops refusing books, even if one refuses there must be others- it sounds to me like you just don't want the hassle.

@Laurmolonlabe , it's usually the really small shops and because they simply don't have anywhere to store them.
There are bigger shops that will take them.