Brigham Young University’s Howard W. Hunter Law Library recently sent 3,000 excess law books to the BYU compost grinder.
Online access to various duplicate law books allowed the library to reduce its holdings and free up more than 1,100 feet of shelf space. The library first contacted the Utah State law librarian and offered the volumes on a national listserve to anyone willing to pay the cost of shipping. One thousand volumes went to six law libraries in California,Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah.
Recycling these hardcover books would require a costly and labor-intensive process, including stripping the paper from the cover and glue, so the seven tons of books were run through BYU’s tree shredder.
Mixed with wood chips and grass clippings, the books will be composted at BYU’s compost facility in Mapleton and brought back to campus at the end of fall semester to be used in the flower, shrub and tree beds.
For more information, contact Bill Rudy, BYU Recycling (422-4662 or recycling@byu.edu) or Dianne Davenport, Howard W. Hunter Law Library (422-7475 or davenportd@lawgate.byu.edu).
Writer: Brooke Eddington
