Chegg and Bulrushed Books team up on textbook recycling effort

An online student textbook and technology vendor and a book repair service firm have teamed up to de-bind and recycle some 85 tons of paper culled from discarded textbooks, using the recycled-content paper to produce 600,000 notebooks for students.

The effort by Santa Clara, California-based online vendor Chegg and Moscow, Idaho-based Bulrushed Books resulted from a desire by both companies to minimize academic waste and reduce their carbon footprints, say the two firms.

Bulrushed Books, on its website, says it provides “tender loving care” and restores used and discarded books for resale and donation. “We breathe new life into every book we repair, and even a few pieces of tape can make all of the difference in doing so,” states the firm.

Chegg describes itself as a “direct-to-student learning platform” that provides several student-related services, including access to affordable textbooks.

But both Bulrushed and Chegg say they recognized that textbooks can become obsolete, but didn’t want to see these textbooks sent to a landfill or to incineration.

A video posted by the two firms demonstrates the de-binding machine invested in by Bulrushed Books, which provided the necessary processing to separate unwanted glue and cover materials so the book pages could be sent through the pulping process.

The companies linked up with Millwood, Washington-based Inland Empire Paper Co. to help recycle the de-bound pages into new paper that Lewiston, Idaho-based TCP Printing and Kent, Washington-based Puget Bindery crafted into Chegg-branded notebooks. The initiative “upcycled 85 tons of recycled paper from old textbooks into over half a million notebooks gifted to college students just in time for back-to-school season,” say the companies.

“In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Chegg hopes this initiative to gift upcycled notebooks will offer students a glimpse of thoughtfulness and positivity as they enter an uncertain semester,” states the online vendor.

“Every business and business owner has an opportunity for stewardship,” Bulrushed Books states. “We have built our business around helping awesome partners like Chegg manage their end-of-life books, and then to reimagine those books into a tangible notebook back in the hands of students.”