Guest Post by Katherine Twomey (2L)
In a world where information access is instantaneously at our fingertips, libraries have begun take stock and move many of their titles to online mediums. While this provides a much-needed accessibility shift for readers, a problem appears: what happens to all of the physical copies remaining in our libraries? When weeding through books to make room new for new materials, libraries often sell or give away older publications. Beyond this, many titles are destined to be discarded. Each year in the United States, an estimated 640,000 tons of books are sent to the landfill. Nine-tenths of all solid waste in the United States is not recycled and ends up in these landfills, which are among the biggest contributors to soil pollution. Roughly 80% of the items that are buried in landfills could have been recycled.
The Mercer Law Library is not immune from facing the challenges of jettisoned publications. When I started as a student library worker in August of 2021, I saw the carts full of titles simply being sent to the dumpsters. “With a few exceptions,” commented Digital & Scholarly Resources librarian, Sharon Bradley, “the Mercer Law Library no longer subscribes to print journals.” These print journals are being cleared from the law library's shelves on the second floor to make room for materials currently in the third-floor library space. After seeing the impact that composting had on my own household trash output, I was nagged with the potential of how this process could be used in our own library. I reached out to Secondhand Soil, run by Candace Neller-Harper, and proposed that Mercer Law Library collaborate with this local composting service to divert discarded publications.
Secondhand Soil provides composting services to Bibb, Houston, and Monroe counties. With a variety of bin sizes and pick-up schedules, Secondhand Soil’s goal is simple: to cut the amount of trash that goes to the landfill by creating a resource from that trash. Furthering the cycle of sustainability, Neller-Harper is able to generate ten pounds of soil for every thirty pounds of compost collected. Customers can then choose to either keep or donate to local farms. Since the collaboration began in September, Mercer Law Library has diverted more than 2,273 pounds—more a literal ton—of materials from the landfill.
As attorneys-in-practice, we are being trained to advocate zealously for our clients. This project is a great example of how that mindset reaches beyond the law. Through inquiry and advocacy, we can take the skills we are learning outside of the classroom to find solutions and problem-solve. Here at Mercer Law, we have been able to make a huge impact via a community collaboration to incorporate sustainability into the law school’s habits, and that is something I am beyond proud of.
REFERENCES
https://healtheplanet.com/100-ways-to-heal-the-planet/recycling-consciously/
https://ambatalia.green/recycling-statistics/
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