Sell Books Blog

Selling used books is, by its very nature, environmentally friendly. Obviously books are made of paper. Every book that is created has an environmental impact both in terms of trees being cut down, and in terms of the fossil fuels burned in manufacturing, shipping, etc. Every time a person buys a used book instead of a new one, it chips away at those impacts.

According to this article on ecology.com, “world consumption of paper has grown four hundred percent in the last 40 years” and “nearly 4 billion trees or 35% of the total trees cut around the world are used in paper industries”. It goes on to quote an EPA report that found that “pulp and paper mills are among the worst polluters to air, water and land of any industry”. Obviously anything we can do to reduce this environmental devastation is a great thing for the planet.

Despite the environmental costs of making books, there is an environmental upshot to the nature of books. Books aren’t perishable or depletable , they never “go bad” and you can use them without “using them up”. In fact, books can be used again and again by as many people as can get their hands on them. As sellers of used books, we are facilitating that process, finding new homes for books.

Whether they knew it or not, used bookstores were green before it was cool. The advent of online sellers like you and me just means the process is exponentially more effective. The internet connects buyers and sellers who otherwise never would have met. It grants books a new lease on life.

I’m not trying to say that I think any of us got into book selling to save the planet. But it is always nice to sit back and realize that through doing what you do, you’re making a positive contribution to the world.

Now, I’ve heard some make the argument that books sold online are less green than those sold in local bookstores because they have to be shipped, often long distances, by carbon-emitting planes and trucks.

I don’t buy it.

What’s really more green, a bunch of books hitching a ride across the country on a truck or a plane that was going there anyway, or every individual seller and buyer getting in their car and driving to and from bookstores? Think about it. It’s like carpooling for books.

A valid consideration about the shipping books has to do with packaging. A lot of sellers use Kraft™ mailers. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that they’re pretty much the predominant packaging solution of choice. Because they’re made of paper and plastic you might think they’re recyclable.

You’d be wrong.

It’s because they are mad of both paper AND plastic that they aren’t recyclable. From the paper recycler’s point of view, they’re contaminated with plastic, and vice versa. No one will take them, so they end up in landfills.

Some people I’ve heard of go out and find materials they can reuse, asking for used cardboard boxes from stores, etc. I even heard of one guy who asks the bag boy to double bag his groceries and put only few items in each bag, then cuts up the bags to package his books. All that MacGuyvering of packaging is fine if you have the time, it’s even free. But if you’re selling more than a few books a week it’s just not a viable method.

The greenest packaging option out there, as far as I’m concerned, is using poly bubble mailers. They’re all plastic so they’re 100% recyclable, and they are as convenient and effective as Kraft™ mailers. That’s why I use them, and that’s why I chose to sell them. Check out the new Recyclable Bubble Mailers page for more info.

Tags: bubble mailers, environment, green, Selling Books, used books

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am and is filed under Selling Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.