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Composting shabby old books?

Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 523
edited November 2020 in The potting shed
What do people do?

There are about 200 million books sold in the UK each year. I am clearing out a relative's house, and there are thousands of books. Some reusable or recycleable. Some not.

I know that if I take books to say Oxfam (I wouldn't do anything for Oxfam for various reasons, but for an example with the largest chain) a good percentage of them will be driven across the country and pulped. Not very green. 

I will take some to another charity.

I spent a few minutes feeding my copy of "Shunt" (500+ pages long and very tabloid James Hunt biography - it's the one with the 33 British Airways hostesses in the Tokyo Hilton over a fortnight) into the shredder whist doing something else, and it has made about 15 litres of "browns" for my compost bin.

(It needs a fairly robust shredder to be able to feed 20 or more pages in at once. Mine could not quite cope with the hard cover and whinged at that point.)

Time for booklovers to be a little utilitarian in the interest of reducing unnecessary shredded-paper miles?

F
“Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”

Posts

  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,532
    I rarely buy new books:  charity shops, public libraries and Kindle keep me well supplied.
  • Mike AllenMike Allen Posts: 202
    I really treasure books, so to dispose of any is out of the question for me.  However when left to dispose on behalf of another, perhaps things are different.  There are many charity shops and also most local authorities have recycling depots.

    For todays reader, there is the internet, and various devices such as Kindle etc.  If I may mention.  Yes, I still buy new books, but, wowee!  look at the prices.
  • Ferdinand2000Ferdinand2000 Posts: 523
    Iñteresting.

    I buy number of books every year, but have two or three or walls of them .. some two deep :-) .
    “Rivers know this ... we will get there in the end.”
  • nick615nick615 SW IrelandPosts: 814
    For me, fiction = Kindle, and reference = the Internet, hence I haven't bought a book in ages, much as I love them.  If you can spare the time, I'd browse any reading clubs as a first step, but thereafter get someone to run through them (or do it yourself) on the lookout for any decent reference books or old looking ones that might have a value.  There may be treasures amongst them, so beware of dealers.
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