At Books2Africa, our ‘readcycling’ model is designed to extend the life of educational materials by preventing perfectly usable materials such as books and computers from going to recycling/landfill sites in the UK. According to the UK Government’s Waste Strategy, “we use too much and are too ready to throw things away, and this waste causes damage if it is not managed properly. We can no longer ignore this” (p 15).
Use any strong cardboard boxes (or buy some here) to package your items. Use bubble wrap for fragile items and secure the boxes with tape ready to begin their journey to a new home in Africa.
Complete our online booking form to arrange a collection from your address or schedule a drop-off appointment at a Books2Africa Drop-off Point near you. Write your booking reference on your boxes.
At our Processing Centre, we check and scan your items into our database using your booking reference. You'll get email notifications when your books are shipped and a picture of the recipient when delivered.
Please take some time to read what we accept before sending us your items.
Each of your donated books will be scanned and catalogued at our Processing Centre to create a record of all your donated books. A minimum of 80% of donated books are allocated to one of several subject categories and palletised together with similar books from other donors ready for shipping to projects in Africa. The remaining 20% consists of books that are sold via our Charity Shop to fund our overheads and about a small minority of damaged books which are recycled responsibly.
We are a Microsoft Third Party Refurbisher (TPR) and our Tech Team checks and refurbishes donated technology in line with Microsoft’s standards, ensuring all data on devices are securely wiped. We wipe data from compatible devices using BitRaser – a secure drive wiping software tested and approved by the NIST which also generates 100% tamper-proof digitally signed certificates that ensure compliance with various national & international data protection regulations.
These items are mainly sold via our Charity Shop to raise funds for the charity.
Check out the videos below for a glimpse of how we process your donated books and computers.
Books To Africa International is a UK registered charity (1152599) and a UK company limited by guarantee (08528635).
An organisation in special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 2017.
We do not store credit card details nor do we share financial details with any third parties.
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