Five ways to recycle your unwanted books | Culture - Salon

640,000 tons of books end up in landfills — but your used books don't have to succumb to such a fate by Ashlie D. Stevens, staff writer at Salon and Shane Tan, writer, student at Sarah Lawrence College, and an editorial intern for Salon.

Little Free Library – Take One – Leave One.
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When you start to dig into the number of books that are thrown away annually, the reported numbers are staggering. According to a 2012 National Wildlife Federation-sponsored report by Laura S. Hickey and Kristy Jones, at least 640,000 tons of books are sent to the landfill on a year-to-year basis. 
"At an assumed average weight of 4 pounds each, that equates to approximately 320 million books that are discarded each year and not being recycled," they wrote. 

Given New Year's resolutions to declutter and spring cleaning come March, you may soon find yourself with boxes of books that no longer have a place on your shelf. So what are the best ways to ensure they don't end up decaying in a landfill?
Industry members have some suggestions. Anne Rumberger, the marketing manager for Verso Books, says their press doesn't have a ton of leftover books — they publish about 130 books a year and only do galleys for review for a fraction of those — but they do have plans in place to ensure they find a home...

Here are some other ways to get your well-loved books to other eager readers: 
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Source: Salon