Even the Salvation Army grinds them up. Apparently they make good mulch. Unfortunately, encyclopedia sets are worthless - even to third-world schools. They're obsolete and contain grossly erroneous information.

I'm dealing with the same situation. I asked at my local used book store, and they said "no thanks." I asked at Salvation Army and Goodwill, and one of them said they would take them but now I cannot remember which! (Brain is old like encyclopedias.)

I was thinking of saving them to show my 1-year old grandson when he is older that encyclopedias are books not something you click on!

They would cost an awful lot to mail. And then the language difference. I bet someone in this country would love to have them. Just for a teacher to have as a classroom reference set would be good. Or give them to a young family who has little kids who would use them for homework. When we were kids, my mom's old set of World Book Encyclopedias sat on the book shelf in the living room. We kids would just leaf through them and read interesting articles.

Grinding them up for mulch is better than having them just go to the landfill.

Where did I just see someone talking about making Christmas wreaths out of torn up books, but when she bought the old books to tear up, she didn't have the heart to do it. She was asking what to do as she still needed to "tear up a book" to make a wreath? Home Decorating forum? She had a pattern for a wreath made from the pages somehow.

Yea!! after posting at another site I was directed to www.readingtree.org They recycle old books (including encyclopedias)by placing old books of all types in schools, libraries, children's hospital libraries, after-school programs, third-world schools, etc....

Thanks for the suggestions. l.marie

Here is a link that might be useful: recycling books & encyclopedias

"I bet someone in this country would love to have them. Just for a teacher to have as a classroom reference set would be good. "

No.
No one wants them... ESPECIALLY teachers. Outdated information is not taught to the kids... at least not around here!

I know it's hard to let go of. We counted on the encyclopedia, and they were expensive to buy for the home.

If it were me, I'd drop it off at the library and run away. Then I'd hold onto the hope that they would find it a good home, and if it became mulch I wouldn't have to know about it.

If it were me, I'd drop it off at the library and run away.

Best suggstion yet but the security cameras will find you out !!!!! haha

I gave mine to the fourth grade in a small country school. They used them to cut out the pictures when they needed some. LOL

Nothing much you can do with them anymore... my donation was back in 1998

Moni

Nobody wants old encyclopedias. I had 2 sets. Couldn't find a library or bookstore or school that would take them. so I slipped them in my household garbage a few volumes at a time. I was at my local library and saw a bunch of "donated" books someone had stacked near the book return. A worker came out and was putting them in a garbager dumpster. I asked him "Why?" he told me "They're no good to us. I don't know why people do this." I know that was true becauise I had already offered them 2 sets of encyclopedias. Nobody wants information that's 40 or 50 years out of date. I think you shouild read the earlier replies-they have some links I never knew existed.

Haven't you all heard of freecycle.com? List them on freecycle and I know that someone will love to have them! I was looking on ebay to buy some and they are NOT CHEAP so you could sell them on ebay! NO they are not trash!

I was the one asking on the Home Dec forum.

This is what you do with them! Click on the link. There are lots of pics.

There are many tutorials on the web for these and for Christmas ornaments and for modge podging furniture and such. It's all sort of interesting :)

Here is a link that might be useful: book pages

WELL if you list them on freecycle, I guarantee you someone will request them within an hour! Heck I had jars and someone got right back to me on those, was going to use them for Christmas food mixes to give as gifts.

I was just at a Craft show where they made wreaths and such from pages of old books, I didn't find them particularly pretty but to each his own.

It doesn't hurt to post them on Freecycle, but members don't necessarily want them either. I see them on there fairly often, but not necessarily taken.

How about donating them to a museum, LOL?

Actually, depending on their age, a collector may want them. I have a set from the 40's and have been offered $250 for them.

Hopefully you took the money....

I, too, have encyclopedias and a set of Life World Books from when I was a kid. and that was along time ago. I call Goodwill. They can't sell them because nobody will buy them. However, they will take them and recycle them. That is a lot better than tossing them in a landfill.

As for the Life World books, I also found a home for them. I found a nursing home/assisted living that has a library that said that they would take them, along with any novels that I had. So that was a real win, win.

I still have a set of "Word Books" left over from my children's school days and in regard to "outdated" information, I would disagree. I haven't surveyed a volume, but I think that at least 90% of the information in the book does not go out of date, nor is inaccurate. Since my set has been published, there has been considerable history that is missing. I have some history updates that was available in yearly update books. I stopped buying the updates after a few years.

My set is over 30 years old, but we did not toss it out. While doing genealogy research, i still refer to these books on occasion. For example, while checking incidents that some of my ancestors were involved in, I found myself going to this encyclopedia to answer question of where was the battle of Cowpens and what was the outcome; Who was that guy called Baron DeKalb? I have two ancestors with that name. I was checking dates to see if those were possible matches to tentative family data. In the World Book, I discovered that Lafayette and George Washington bunked in the same house during a winter at Valley Forge. Stuff like this does not go out of date.

A do admit it; I'm out of date. I do not have a smart phone. I'd love to have one. It would be nice to do internet searches for answers, but I could not bring myself to spend the monthly charges for the features I'd want. Instead, I get by with a simple cell phone at 10% the cost of smart phone charges. I have found there is a wealth of misinformation on the internet. It's convenient, but one must filter the data to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, I do envy those with smart phones. Those are much smaller than a set of encyclopedias.

Another old link that popped to the top. I used to love the old National Geographics and Encyclopedias when I was a kid. I'd pick one up, open it and just read.

If you're looking to recycle, I've seen some really cute fairy houses made from them on Pinterest. They cut out windows and doors and then build a little scene on the inside. I googled "fairy house encyclopedia" and did an image search. I don't want to link, one person is making and selling them.

I love my encyclopedias. They are full of childhood memories. Now I use them as decor. They are beautiful. And they have always had beautiful glossy pictures.