Can You Put Books In Recycling Bin?

Books are undoubtedly one of the humans’ best companions; this is something people have in bulks at their homes, in libraries, or different book auctions. Despite this, several thousands of books get old every day and are thrown into the garbage or treated in any other way. But can you put books in recycling bin for recycling purposes? What should you do with your old torn and burned books? Is it worth keeping the old books that are no longer valuable? 

There can be many questions in your mind if you have come to this place. But don’t worry because I am here to answer all of them. So, please keep reading until the end to determine whether you should recycle books, what bin is dedicated for them, and a lot more. 

Can You Really Put Books In A Recycling Bin?

Books have a huge importance in everyone’s life, and that is a fact that everything in life has an ending point. 

The thing or a matter of a book with the recycling bin, whether to put or not to put is very clear and evident.

Since you know that books are made from paper and paper, is that material which can be recycled and reused almost 10 times. Therefore, it is too okay to put books in a recycling bin for recycling purposes. But recycling is not the only option you have for these books. Because there are several other relative alternatives, you can find to make these books useful once again!

Therefore, recycling books is always possible if you know how to make them reach a nearby recycling center in your area. 

We’ll discuss this later in this section, so please don’t skip reading until the end. 

What Color Bin Is Dedicated For Collecting Paper Or Book Waste?

Usually, a Gray Color Recycling Bin is dedicated and placed in certain areas in the United States of America to keep paper, cardboard, and other organic waste of this type.

This means, in case you need to put your old books into the recycling bin, always look for a gray bin. 

And if you don’t find it, there might be a universal recycling bin used to keep all types of recyclable, including both organic and non-organic. 

So, these books are totally recyclable, and they have an allotted space where you can collect them. 

Besides, read more about what can I put in my recycling bin by clicking the blue colored text to know what types of recycling bins are used to keep what types of products inside. 

What Types Of Books Are Recyclable?

It’s true that all types of books are sometimes made from paper or cardboard. Therefore, all these books are recyclable as it doesn’t matter if you want to send some new ones to the recycling centers. 

Or if you have a bunch of old ones who are no longer readable. 

In that case, consider finding the same recycling bin and putting all the books inside it that you want to send to the nearby recycling center. 

Can You Recycle Hardcover Books?

Since we know that all Paper books are easy to recycle because the paper itself is 100% recyclable. 

But you might have some specific obligations with the Hardcover books. In these books, the recycling answer is sometimes answered Yes and sometimes No. 

I mean to say, there might be some facilities offering you recycling machinery which can also recycle the books with their hardcovers. 

However, in most places, you may only find recycling companies or centers recycling paper books without hardcovers. 

They remove the bindings and collect the hardcovers in one place. The rest paper goes to the recycling for having or creating something new in the new paper. 

Can You Put Recyclable Books In A Blue Bin?

No, a blue bin is not really used to keep books or paper waste inside. That’s because a blue bin is only dedicated to keeping plastic waste.

This waste includes simple plastic water bottles, pie tins, soda cans, beers, etc. 

Therefore, a blue bin might not be where you are looking to keep books for recycling purposes. 

In How Many Ways Those Old Books Can Be Recycled?

In the case of old books, recycling should not always mean throwing these paper books into the recycling machines and letting them throw all those chemical procedures. 

Because even despite this, there are multiple ways through which you can recycle old books. 

Below, I am describing some easiest things to do to recycle all the old books you have and get rid of them so that some new books might take up the empty shelves space. Please have a look!

1: Recycle Books Through Denoting Them To The Needy Ones:

In one study, Statista found that only in the US in the year 2020, a total of 750.89 million printed books were available for sale. 

And a study shows as well that up to 6 lac and 40 thousand books end up in those landfills, increasing the environmental pollution as well as the size of those landfills. 

But even after such a huge production and quantity of books, almost half of the world’s countries suffer from not having enough books to complete education.

Therefore, this problem can easily be tackled when you donate your read books to the ones who actually need them. It makes space inside your home and saves time, energy, and money to find any book recycler near your town. 

This type of donation occurs through the local govt or any other organizing body working in your country to provide these books to the underserved and needy communities of this world. In this way, you will be offering your part in making the whole world educated. 

2: Recycle The Old Books By Selling And Making Some Cash:

What if your old books may help you earn some cash? That’s not a bad idea because nobody would deny some extra cash. 

When I was in my study career, I used to give books to my junior fellows. Despite this, there are some books I used to sell to make new cash so that I may buy a bunch of new ones. 

You can also do the same thing to earn money by selling old books. And use that money to buy some new ones for the next career or whatever you are pursuing now. 

Some book stores or bookkeepers might accept the old books from the customers and provide you the cash at the exact moment. 

Despite that, below are some well-known book collectors that collect or keep books from you and pay you to cash in return. You can sell your old books at: 

• At any independent book store or those with half price. 
• The Facebook marketplace has also become an independent online selling platform these days. You can sell any amount of books to the local buyers by entering your exact location. 
• Amazon and eBay also accept these kinds of books and pay you good money. 

3: Repurpose Those Old Books As It Is Another Way Of Recycling:

Instead of throwing, selling, or sending those old books to a recycling center, these can be repurposed and reused in many creative ways. 

You can always use your imagination and make some entirely practical s well as decorative from that old torn book. 

For this, look for creative ways to repurpose old books on Pinterest, as it can suggest many ideas you might have never heard of. 

Once repurposed, these books can be used as decorative pieces inside your home. 

4: Sending These Old Books To The Real Recycling Procedure:

Now, that’s the last thing you must do if there is no other way to get rid of those old books. Yes, recycling will come along at the final position, and you must be very clear about that. 

Consider keeping the old books in a curbside recycling bin until there is a bunch of them. 

However, before sending them to the nearest local or govt recycling centers, ensure to remove the hardcovers from these books. 

Because this may include thread, glue, and even plastic which can be mixed with the paper.

Hence, these things must be removed completely, and the books shall be sent to the nearest recycling facility. But if you don’t get a book recycling center near you, you must find out where it is. 

A professional book recycler will take care of those books and shall dispose of them by keeping the environment safe and secured. 

Successfully, you can eliminate those old, torn, and ugly books you are keeping through these four ways.

Because how does something new with a couple of new stories and life lessons come to your home if you will not remove the old books outside? Think about that!

Final Thoughts:

Conclusively, an answer about whether can you put books in recycling bin is always positive because there are assigned and pre-defined recycling bins for paper waste. Paper is a quality material that doesn’t lose its value even if it gets recycled 9 times. Therefore, the idea of using the old books to recycle and produce new magazines or books from them is so genuine. This is something everyone would appreciate. 

Therefore, I hope you learned deeply about it and what to do with your no longer readable books. Hit me up for further queries. Have a very good day to you!

References:

1. Waste, F., 1999. Recycling. Cost per month, per residence, 5.
2. Taramian, A., Doosthoseini, K., Mirshokraii, S.A. and Faezipour, M., 2007. Particleboard manufacturing: an innovative way to recycle paper sludge. Waste management, 27(12), pp.1739-1746.
3. Raut, S.P., Sedmake, R., Dhunde, S., Ralegaonkar, R.V. and Mandavgane, S.A., 2012. Reuse of recycle paper mill waste in energy absorbing light weight bricks. Construction and Building Materials, 27(1), pp.247-251.