Did You Know?

  • The United States annually consumes 2 billion books, 350 million magazines and 25 billion newspapers.
  • The paper industry is the largest consumer of forests in the Southern US, currently logging an estimated 5 million acres of forests (an area the size of New Jersey) each year.
  • The number of trees that are cut down annually to produce the books sold in the U.S.: about 20 million.
  • In the U.S. paper market, 95% of the printing and writing papers are made with virgin wood fiber.
  • Percentage of recycled paper currently used by U.S. book publishers in the production of books: about 5%.

Why Buy Used Books?

Global warming is one of the most serious challenges facing us today. Did you know that buying used books can reduce global warming and help you lessen your impact on the environment?

Right now, deforestation is responsible for approximately 20% of the world's carbon emissions, which contributes to global warming. Nearly 4 billion trees are cut down in the world every year! Trees are essential to life on earth, providing oxygen, cleaning the air, sorting carbon, regulating rainfall, preventing erosion and flooding, and providing habitat to creatures. Acres lost to deforestation are rarely re-planted as they were before, or they are converted to non-forest uses.

Wood-based products, such as books, continue to store carbon dioxide (CO2), helping to reduce climate change. On average a book will store CO2 for 10 years, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere. If a book is thrown away and taken to a landfill, it decomposes and produces methane gas, another significant source of global warming. Buying, selling and passing on used books to others reduces the amount of waste in landfills, and cuts carbon and methane emissions. These books can later be recycled into other products.

We know that there may be times when you need to buy new books or new editions. However, Biblio.com encourages you to "buy used" whenever possible, in as many ways as you can. We help you make your environmental choice by offering over 70 million used, rare and out-of-print books. When you shop at our site, you take advantage of our ecosend shipping program to help offset carbon emissions (of course, at no additional cost to you!), or simply visit your local bookstore to conserve travel resources. When you buy used books for school, fun summer reading, or special occasions, you reduce the impact on your wallet and the environment!

While "doing something for the environment" once meant tossing a newspaper in a recycling bin or turning off a light in an empty room, now nearly every aspect of every-day life--from the sink pipes in our kitchen to the cars that we drive--has an earth-friendly option.

Save some "green" by going green--buy used books!

For more information on how to decrease your ecological footprint, visit these sites:

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