When an item is removed from the collection because of poor condition (coffee spills, broken spine…), the item is generally recycled or thrown in the garbage.  Items removed for other reasons are usually offered for sale on our $1.00 DISCARD sale shelves.  If the items do not sell, we offer them to the Friends of the Library or AAUW for their yearly book sales.  For the past few years, neither organization has been interested in many of our discarded items.  (If they don’t sell on our DISCARD sale shelves, they are usually items that won’t sell well in the book sale.)  Most items that are left are processed and recycled.  In order to recycle the books, we rip off the covers.  The plastic covers are discarded.  The cardboard covers are recycled as cardboard.  The paper is sent to paper recycling.