Reading sustainably: making second-hand second nature.

By Ema Poposka

Books are probably not the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about sustainability. But guess what - you can reduce your carbon footprint by reading. 

According to Green Press Initiative an average book has a CO2 footprint of nine pounds from harvesting the trees, making the paper, printing, distributing, and retailing. So, if you want to be responsible for your environmental impact and try to lower your carbon footprint you may choose to buy used books. Buying secondhand books reduces the demand for paper production and saves old books from heading to landfills. A secondhand book comes with a whole other story apart from the one between the covers, and that is kind of exciting. Very often buying secondhand books supports a charity or a non-profit that donates the profits to promote literacy and offers free books to the kids that cannot afford new books. 

Hong Kong readers are lucky that since about a year ago, they can buy second-hand children’s books in Hong Kong from reBooked, a non-profit social enterprise that seeks to promote the reuse of children’s books in two ways: 1) they collect pre-loved books directly from donors, and 2) they resell these books at deeply discounted prices on their online shop so that other families can access them! reBooked helps keep books in the hands of readers - instead of exerting extra energy and using more resources to recycle these books, burning them in an incinerator, or having them end up in the landfill. It is all about promoting sustainability among its customers and encouraging them to do their best to live a zero-waste lifestyle.

This social enterprise is the idea of Bailey Cherry, a student at Canadian International School. She established the enterprise when she was only fourteen years old. Cherry explains that she came up with the idea when she outgrew her own collection of kids’ books at home, and she wanted to find a way to pass on her books to other young readers.  However, she discovered that there are very limited, convenient and accessible ways to donate books in Hong Kong.  

“I saw that there was a gap in the market for a platform to re-use books in a sustainable way so that’s how the idea of reBooked came about,” explains Cherry.   

Turning this idea into reality took a lot of work. The first step for Cherry was to research the market opportunity in Hong Kong to confirm if there was a demand for the services that reBooked would provide. Following that, she looked into how to set up an e-commerce website from scratch and how to register a start-up here in Hong Kong. Finally, she had to look into the creative aspect, such as logo design and social media to get the word out.  

“In the first 3 months, I changed and improved things as I learned more about our customers and how to run a start-up,” she adds. 

Setting up reBooked had its ups and downs. 

For Cherry, “the most challenging part of setting up reBooked was coming up with a concrete idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to focus on sustainability in literacy through the re-use of kids’ books, but initially I didn’t know how I would go about it.” 

What followed was a learning experience above anything else. “First, I learned first-hand the value of adaptability and resilience,” she says.

She stresses that her two biggest challenges were personal time management and COVID-19. Explaining how she overcame these challenges she said that she did it by “not giving up easily, and by being flexible and adapting to different situations”. 

Another lesson learned was that “team work really makes the dream work!” For this purpose, reBooked recruited a team of young students to work together over the summer and help setting up reBooked pop-up shop. 

“Despite the third wave of Covid, the pop-up show was successful and together, we reached milestones I never would have been able to complete without the support of the team members.”

And finally, Cherry learned that “being both courageous and patient made all the difference. Whether it is reaching out and asking to collaborate with an organisation, or pitching your idea in a start-up competition, you will never know the outcome unless you give it a go”.  

Running a business as a teenager is a lot of hard work and “I also have other priorities such as my studies and social relationships such as family and friends”, admits Cherry.  However, she also says that she has no regrets as “reBooked has been an incredible journey so far, and the experience is worth it”.

All this hard work paid off and Cherry feels motivated whenever someone emails reBooked to say that they would like to donate books because they believe in the cause. But what gives her most joy is when she hears that other kids are enjoying the books they got from reBooked. “Knowing that reBooked is making an impact in the lives of young readers in Hong Kong is an indescribable feeling,” she confesses.. 

Apart from being primarily aimed at encouraging sustainable living and circular economy, reBooked is also about helping the community in promoting literacy. Research done by Book Trust proves that reading is beneficial to children’s educational and social development.  The secondhand books sold at reBooked are offered at a fraction of the retail price, thus making top-notch titles accessible to those on a tighter budget. Additionally, they collaborate with community partners like Rolling Books, an organization that supports ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, and Refugee Union, a local NGO that helps refugees. 

“We have passed on books to both organizations and made financial donations to the Refugee Union,” concludes Cherry. 

Next time you need to declutter your room or you just want to add more books on your reading list remember to contact reBooked at https://www.rebooked-hk.com or @rebooked_hk or hello@rebooked-hk.com.