Problem: you like to read books, but you’re worried about the eco-footprint of buying dead trees.

Solution: BetterWorldBooks.com.

Why? Sure, Better World Books has an inventory of over six million new and used books, with low prices and free shipping anywhere in the US (only $3.97 worldwide). But that’s only part of the, er, story.

The real reason? BetterWorldBooks.com has a much bigger mission than just selling books. They work to achieve a triple bottom line – social, environmental and economic – by working to keep books out of landfills, funding literacy programs around the world and shipping every order carbon neutral.

Book Search and Rescue

Better World Books don’t just sell books – they rescue them. They support book drives and collect used books and textbooks through their network of more than 1,800 college campuses and partnerships with more than 2,000 libraries nationwide.

Their haul so far? More than 35 million donated books and more than 13,000 tons of books diverted from landfills. You can check out their running tally on their home page.

Spreading Literacy

Since its founding in 2002, Better World Books has converted those rescued books into $7.5 million in funding for literacy and education. They have also donated 2.3 million books to partner programs around the world, including their five primary literacy partners: Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Invisible Children.

Eco-Shopping

To keep their (and your) shopping eco-footprint as small as possible, BetterWorldBooks.com reduces their carbon output, and then offsets the rest. Choose “eco-shipping” at check-out to ship via the national postal service, the carrier with the lowest energy output per package. And by agreeing to pay a small optional fee at checkout, you help Better World Books pay for carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org, enough to offset all of their shipping as well as that of their literacy partners.

Want to help BetterWorldBooks.com keep books out of landfills and spread individual literacy around the world? Just buy a book. You’ll save a little money, help save the planet, and give someone else the gift of reading.

One final note: SustainAbler is proud to be an affiliate partner of BetterWorldBooks.com. When we send them customers, they send us a small commission. Every purchase you make through a link on SustainAbler.com helps make us more sustainable.

So when you absolutely, positively have to have a book, buy it at BetterWorldBooks.com.

Image of red book by Horia Varlan, Strand Books by ricouerian, both on Flickr.com.