Recycling Advisory Committee partners with BookSmiles
City of Summit
The Recycling Advisory Committee (RAC) has partnered with New Jersey non-profit BookSmiles to divert excess books from the Book Barn from entering the waste stream.
The organization collects, sorts, and distributes donated books to children and families living in underserved communities in New Jersey and Philadelphia by providing other non-profits and educators with children’s books for classroom libraries, book fairs, and at food bank distributions.
BookSmiles houses book donation boxes throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania and accepts larger donations at their headquarters in Pennsauken, NJ. Citizens can also contact the organization to schedule a pickup of personal library collections of 2,000+ books (approximately six large bookcases) from their residence.
RAC Chair Mimi Zukoff coordinated a pickup at the Book Barn on Thursday, March 7, and donated approximately 45 boxes of books, which were previously organized and stored by Division of Public Works (DPW) staff over the past several weeks. Going forward, DPW staff will store boxes of excess books at the Transfer Station until the next scheduled BookSmiles pickup, which will occur on an as-needed basis.
“We are thrilled that the Book Barn gets so much use, but it frequently becomes unmanageable due to the high volume of books that are dropped off by residents,” explains Mimi Zukoff. “Paperback books can be recycled, but hard cover books had to be thrown away during our previous clean-outs. By partnering with BookSmiles, we are keeping more material out of the waste stream and helping to make books and reading more accessible to more children.”
BookSmiles accepts donations of adult and children’s books; the children’s books are donated and proceeds from the sale of adult books are used to help fund the non-profit.
For more information on BookSmiles visit booksmiles.org. For more information on the City of Summit Municipal Transfer Station visit cityofsummit.org/transferstation.
