Old Books Re-selling and reusing used library and text books is an easy way to recycle on campus. Even so, a waste study showed many books were being thrown away in the trash containers. The waste audit revealed two major sources of old books, Milner Library and the Bone Student Center. Shortly thereafter, recycling programs were established in each building. While the University only has a specific program in these two buildings, others can participate by placing their old books next to intermediate paper recycling containers.
Old books require some extra work before they can be recycled.
University Recycling delivers the books to a processing facility where the bindings must be cut off before the paper can be recycled. Please remember to keep soft back books and hard back books separate. Plastic Illinois State University recycles plastic on a very limited basis. Previous waste audits have revealed plastics to be a minuscule portion of the overall waste stream on campus. Therefore, it was determined that a plastic recycling program would not be an economically sound program to develop because the costs would outweigh the benefits.