Outdated textbooks, volumes of encyclopedias and damaged page turners will have a more useful afterlife thanks to a new partnership between Green Marketing LLC and Goodwill Columbus, Ohio.
The Central Ohio businesses joined forces in November to divert unsellable discards from the landfill and grind them up into pulp for mills to create commercial and consumer paper towels, tissue and toilet paper.
“I found out they were throwing [these books] right into the dumpster because they don’t have a retail value,” said Kevin Malinowski, a consultant at Green Marketing. “I suggested that they start stockpiling them at the distribution center and once they got a truckload we could come in and pay them by the ton. That way they weren’t throwing them away … and they were making money.”
He pitched the book recycling program to Josh Schilder, retail operations director at Goodwill Columbus. Since giving it the green light, book donations have increased significantly at the six retail stores and 13 Goodwill donation centers throughout Franklin County where there are six retail stores and 13 donation centers.
“We have been getting a good turnout from the community. People have been donating a lot of extra books,” said Schilder, adding that this program will help Goodwill Columbus save money because it no longer has to pay to have these unwanted books hauled away. “It’s also bringing more people into our store so it’s definitely going well.”
Source: Waste & Recycling News