Richmond, VA – Ever wonder what happens to out-of-date or unneeded copies of the books on our shelves? What about a book that’s been returned irreparably damaged by an accidental coffee spill? Libraries actually have a lot of fascinating behind-the-scenes practices to handle books and materials that are no longer in service.
We’re excited to announce that for one of those practices, Fairfax County Public Library has received an Honorable Mention at the 2026 Virginia Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards for our book reuse and recycling project. The project began as a two-year pilot in May 2025, as a way to give old library books new life and help manage our unneeded materials in a sustainable way. Instead of paying to recycle books that have reached the end of their library service, these books are now delivered to our new partner, ThriftBooks. The company evaluates and sells these books on the secondary market or to a recycler to be transformed into paper pulp. The income received from this pilot program is then returned to the collection budget to purchase more books for library customers.
By the Numbers
In partnership with Fairfax County’s Department of Procurement and Material Management, from May 2025-February 2026, FCPL sent more than 185,000 books to ThriftBooks for recycling or resale. About 121,000 of those were recycled and 63,000 were put up for sale – about half of which have sold so far.
This has provided substantial environmental impact avoidance –
- 119 cu yd landfill
- 624,800 gallons of water saved
- 366,000 kwh saved
- 5,300 lbs. greenhouse gases not produced
- Over 2,000 trees were saved via pulping
About the Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards
These awards recognized the significant contributions of environmental and conservation leaders in five categories: sustainability, environmental project, greening of government, land conservation, and implementation of the Virginia Outdoors Plan. They are given to businesses and industrial facilities, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies. The awards program is run annually by DEQ in partnership with the Department of Conservation and Recreation.