If you are looking to take waste and reuse it, then one of the materials that you are going to end up dealing with is second hand books.
Typically these books are listed and sold on an item basis, with each book having a different price depending on what the store thinks it's worth. Here's a different model: sell books by the kilogram. The greengrocer for books. You could play with this.
It's not my idea. I first saw it written up at Springwise (a website listing entrepreneurial ideas), with the article referring to the Spanish bookseller La Casqueria which apparently sells books by the kilogram. Unfortunately I don't read Spanish, but I believe them.
There is another store in the US that does similar: Market Fresh Books. Books there are $5/lb, or a bit over $10/kg. In fact, they have some really clever business models like book rental where you pay a deposit of the book's cover price, and get refunded the deposit less $0.75 per day. If you like the book, you keep it and everybody's happy. Cool approach!
You could have a bit of fun with this. Maybe romance novels are "in season", and so you can reduce the price. Greengrocer scales, people in smocks, books put in paper bags etc. Go the whole hog.
It certainly changes thinking about books, and that can't be a bad thing. You're certainly in front. At $10/kg, you are getting $10,000/tonne. That beats paying $100/tonne at landfill, or maybe getting $300/tonne as recycled paper.
Why do books go to landfill again?
