Category Archives: Recycle Books

Too much stuff? “Pass It On!”

Posted on by Lenore Collins

Need to make some room before the gift-giving starts? Donate unwanted clothes, toys, and other items to a local non-profit organization that accepts donations.

Pass It On: A Resource-Full Guide to Donating Usable Stuff

Image courtesy of the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District.

The Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District publishes a book called “Pass It On: A Resource-Full Guide to Donating Usable Stuff” that lists over 125 local organizations, most of them in Cuyahoga County, that accept donations year-round. (Some of these organizations will pick up donated goods, but may not offer pickups outside the county.)

If your mailing address is in Cuyahoga County, you can order a copy of the book by calling (216) 698-2265 or online from the Solid Waste District’s website.

If you’re outside Cuyahoga County, or if you prefer the less wasteful online version, you can view it online as a PDF on the District’s website or use their searchable database, which may have more current information than the book, which was published in July 2014. (Scroll down to “Items to Donate.”)

Make this holiday season a little greener: use “Pass It On” to find destinations for your unwanted belongings.

(My thanks to the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District for permission to quote part of this material from their online newsletter, Talking Trash.)

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page.

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A new way to recycle books: Little Free Libraries

Posted on by Lenore Collins

Keep your eyes open, and you’ll see Little Free Libraries sprouting up all over Northeast Ohio.

These book-houses (they look like birdhouses, although they’re a little larger) take books out of the bookstore and into the community. Anyone who wants a book can take one and keep it. Or return it. Or pass it on to the next reader. It’s that simple.

First_Little_Free_Library_-schoolhouse

This Little Free Library was designed by Todd Bol in memory of his mother, Esther Bol, a school teacher and lover of books. Photo credit: Lisa Colon DeLay

The Little Free Library movement got started when Todd Bol, the son of a Wisconsin schoolteacher, built the first one — a model of a one-room schoolhouse — as a memorial to his mother, mounted it on his front lawn, and filled it with books. He shared his idea with a friend who had been helping to support village libraries in Sri Lanka. The idea went viral: you’ll find Little Free Libraries in all 50 states and at least 40 countries worldwide. (Read more about Todd Bol and the beginnings of Little Free Libraries here.)

Locally, a retired library director, Bob Cheshier, picked up on the idea and placed 14 Little Free Libraries near Cleveland schools. After Bob died earlier this year, the community continued his work. (For more of Bob’s story, check out Margaret Bernstein’s articles in the May 26 and May 30 Cleveland Plain Dealer.)

Mentor Public Library has placed Little Free Libraries in 12 locations in Mentor and Mentor-on-the-Lake (see articles in the News-Herald, Plain Dealer and Mentor Patch), and Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood is placing ten of them around the Promise Neighborhood.

Want to donate a book? If there’s a Little Free Library in your neighborhood, just add it to the collection. Or check out the map on the Little Free Library website. The little boxes are turning up in more and more places as the movement continues to grow, locally and worldwide.

Little Free Libraries: one more way to keep books in the hands of readers and out of the landfill.

Want to stay in touch with the latest recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.

Shop Recycled: Book sale at Mentor Library’s Read House, Saturday, April 27

Posted on by Lenore Collins

Friends of the Mentor Public Library will offer all new inventory at their $5/bag book sale at the Read House, on Mentor Avenue next to the Main Library (map).

Read House, home of the Friends of the Mentor Public Library

Read House, home of the Friends of the Mentor Public Library (photo credit: Mentor Public Library)

Book sale hours on Saturday, April 27 are 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Proceeds from the sales help support library programs and facilities, and every purchase from a Friends of the Library book sale is an exercise in reducing, reusing and recycling.

Parking is available behind the Main Library (map) and in the library’s auxiliary lot at the corner of Sharonlee Drive and Mentor Avenue (map).

Shop recycled at the Friends of the Mentor Library book sale: Save money, pick up some great summer reading and help keep books and magazines out of the landfill.

Want to stay in touch with the latest in recycling news in the Cleveland area? Just click on the Follow button at the bottom of my blog Home page, or subscribe to my Examiner.com page.