REVIEW: Green Metropolis

I am a bit of a bookworm and can't resist buying books at any opportunity. However, I have recently become aware of the colossal impact the book industry can have on the environment. Take the first print run of JK Rowling’s latest Harry Potter espisode, this stretched to over two billion pages - or 2.5 million copies - in the UK alone - the equivalent to over 8,000 trees!

Luckily, for the discerning book buyer there is now an ethical choice - GreenMetropolis.com - the UK’s first dedicated secondhand book website.

The idea is simple - you can buy, sell and recycle your books all in one place. All books have a set price of just £3.75 (hardbacks and paperbacks). £3.00 goes to the seller, 70p to GreenMetropolis. In addition the site donates 5p from the sale of every book to the Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest tree planting charity.

All you have to do is register for an account. Credit your account with cash and then purchase books. You can also register any books you wish to sell. Unlike most second have bookshops you will find both old and new publications on GreenMetropolis.

Founder Barry Crow, told me he came up with the when he downsized from a 4-bedroom house in Newcastle to a 1-bedroom London flat and found that he had literally accumulated hundreds of books over the years which now had to be given away.

Barry continued, "Whenever possible, I tried to buy my books from charity shops or second-hand book shops, however trying to find a book I actually wanted to read was difficult and any recent releases had to be bought new. The key behind GreenMetropolis was to create a community of readers who were prepared to recycle books by buying, reading and selling on their books via a website."

"I searched the Internet and realised that a comprehensive second-hand book website didn’t exist. So I started planning GreenMetropolis. In addition, it seemed that no other website, including market leaders Amazon, had found an ethical way of recycling books and as well as offering much the same service as a bookshop. "

GreenMetropolis found this way and in 2005, thanks to the members £1,974.50 was donated to the Woodland Trust.

I am a member of bookgroup, The PoshClub, so the site comes in every handy. Any book I need for the club I can purchase and then resell once I have read it. This not only saves me a lot of money but also helps plant trees at the same time.

Need a novel way to recycle your books? Look no further. GreenMetropolis.com provides a wonderful service.

Until next time, be as green as you can be

Paula

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