English Org Rescues Discarded Books, Gives Them to Young Readers

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Alison Flood of The Guardian recently authored a lovely profile of a gentleman named Jim McLaughlin who runs the Doncaster, England-based organization Re-Read, which rescues discarded books and distributes them to young readers. McLaughlin, a self-proclaimed bibliophile who comes from a recycling background, first got the idea for Re-Read when he saw a skip (for my fellow Yanks, that’s a dumpster) filled to the brim with trashed books. In 2012 he founded Re-Read and since then the organization has sifted through over 1,000 tons of discarded literature and distributed over 54,000 books to underprivileged children.

“Re-Read buys titles by the ton from charity-shop chains, as well as taking donations from locals. Its team of seven staff and 30 volunteers then sorts through the titles, keeping the children’s books to give away, and selling the remaining titles on online retail sites, with the profits ploughed back into keeping the social enterprise going. Books which are too worn out to be re-used are recycled, rather than being put into landfill.”

Not only is McLaughlin able to help poor families obtain books for their young readers, he’s also been able to make a positive environmental impact while doing so. Take a look at the full piece (linked below) and let us know what you think of this neat idea.