How to Start a School District Textbook Recycling Program

Every year, your school district must find a way to store or dispose of thousands of used textbooks and other materials. You can save school district funds, provide assistance to underprivileged children, protect the environment and give a hands-on educational experience to your own school district's students by organizing a school district textbook recycling program. Start with a small committee of people who are enthusiastic about the idea.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Volunteers
• Drop-off location
• Packing supplies

Involve Administrators, Teachers and Students

1. Show school administrators that the district can save on the space-related costs of warehousing used textbooks that are no longer up to date. Disposal costs can also be reduced if old textbooks are dedicated to reuse.

2. Work with teachers to develop a curriculum module or service group for students who are interested in participating as volunteers in a school district textbook recycling program. Such involvement is especially suitable for middle school students who are developing an interest in social and environmental concerns.

3. Use the Directory of Book Donation Programs as a starting point for research on where to donate used textbooks (see Resources below).

4. Give participants a choice of potential beneficiaries of your old books. Start with categories such as inner-city schools, American Indian reservation libraries, prison literacy programs and schools or libraries in developing nations. Focus on a particular category and let participants do the research to select one or more groups that would benefit from receiving textbooks for reuse.

Organize Your Textbook Recycling Program

5. Establish a recycling area where participants meet regularly to receive and organize surplus textbooks. Pack and ship textbooks that are suitable for your program's chosen beneficiary.

6. Conduct a book drive with appropriate publicity and district-wide announcements at the end of each school term or semester. At this time, teachers are ready to get rid of older textbooks to make space for new acquisitions.

7. Consider reselling books that have significant value through a program such as Amazon Marketplace or an annual, on-premises book sale (see Resources below). This can help you to raise funds to defray the expense of shipping materials and shipping.

8. Contact your local municipal recycling program to arrange for appropriate recycling of books that cannot be reused due to age or condition. Visit the Earth 911 website to locate the nearest recycling center (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Start your school district textbook recycling program on a small scale with a pilot program in one or two schools. Use your initial success to recruit volunteers in additional schools.

Resources

• Use the Directory of Book Donation Programs
• Amazon Marketplace to sell old textbooks
• Earth 911 to find a recycling center

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[greenbooks]

on 12/18/2008 A great website to recycle your old textbooks is http://www.greentextbooks.org

Save Money, Save The Planet
GreenTextbooks.org specializes in the recycling of textbooks, DVDs, CDs. Buying used textbooks not only saves you money, but cuts down on greenhouse gases caused by the manufacturing of new textbooks.
With GreenTextbooks.org you're not only saving trees, your saving some green.

[Ann681]

on 9/6/2008 We are members of the National Recycling Assn., College & University Coalition, Texas Recycling Assn., and work with schools and districts assisting them with the recycling of out of adoption materials.
We work in California and Texas. We believe in working with the local recycling community so that we keep our own community working.
We do not work with the secondary book market as this is in total conflict with our objectives. We destroy materials according to the State Education Code.
We would love to hear from legitimate organizations looking for materials that can be used. We cannot work with any individual or organization looking to secure the materials for resale.
Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you.
Ann Johnson
[e-mail]