Hands Across the Water Inc

HATW is addressing an important conservation problem in this country as our landfills and paper recycling centers can no longer take all of the excess but perfectly serviceable books that our schools and libraries were trashing - with guilt - before HATW's existence, for lack of other outlets. Most discarded books in the USA are shredded and reduced to pulp in a process that is innocuously termed "recycling" but in reality the destructive chemical processes used to destroy the books also releases harmful environmental pollutants. We are challenging that unhealthful practice. Contrary to popular conception, most of the books that are being destroyed here in the USA are not moldy and tattered but are instead often quality books that are still in good condition. Typically they are discarded by a relatively affluent households, schools and libraries which must periodically "weed out" their collection due to space constraints. Publishers often have "overstock" of new books or books with minor imperfections which they destroy.