Found out my local library throws away hundreds of books a month

I was chatting with a librarian friend in Columbus and she mentioned they have to remove about 300 worn-out books from circulation every four weeks. They can't even donate most of them because the bindings are totally shot. It's wild to think about that much material just getting tossed. Has anyone here ever tried to salvage or recycle books from a library purge?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellyj232mo agoMost Upvoted

Guess they never heard of book hospice. Maybe we could at least use the paper for something, like lining hamster cages. Feels wrong to just trash stories, even busted ones.

grant_torres2mo ago

Totally agree. Could even cut out the good pages for collage or scrap paper. Feels less wasteful that way.

lily_sullivan821mo ago

Holding onto wrecked books just feels like hoarding clutter to me. I get the impulse to save them, but honestly, if the spine is broken and pages are falling out, it's not a book anymore, it's just trash with sentimental value. I'd rather recycle the whole thing cleanly than keep a pile of half-destroyed paper around that I'll never actually use. My local recycling center takes them, and I know they get turned into new stuff. Seems more useful than a scrap pile gathering dust in my closet.