Better World Books collects books that libraries and universities would otherwise throw away, and sell them to benefit its nonprofit literacy partners, including Books for Africa, Room to Read, and Invisible Children (a lesser-known nonprofit until 2012) and 80 more.
And with good returns so far: In the past five years, BWB has increased its revenue fivefold, up to $50 million last year. To date, the company has donated over 5 million books (for every book sold, a book is donated) and recycled or reused over 80 million pounds of books altogether. They use carbon offsets to covers emissions associated with shipping the books and with the company's general operations. Of course the recycling system is saving trees used in generating new books (although this is an impact that takes time to reveal itself). And to top it off, they're a certified b-corporation in the good company of other businesses committed to doing right by the world and its population.
Their website has tickers that show you exactly how many books have been collected and funds raised, up to the minute. This is fascinating; even charity:water doesn't have that kind of accuracy on its homepage, and it makes me curious about where this information is feeding from. BWB's one downside may be inventory: they cannot yet offer every title you're looking for, and it makes sense that they start with textbooks. Perhaps, though, a merger with Amazon could be the perfect thing? Convert what is now the 'used' option for each book into a BWB system?
My favorite book-recycling program may still be finding a book on the steps of a Brooklyn brownstone building, left there by the previous reader to pass it on. But the next time I buy a book online, I'll check www.betterworldbooks.com first.
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