--- title: "Should I Donate Old Books in Tempe?" url: https://givemybooksnetwork.com/tempe-az/learn/should-you-donate-or-throw-away-old-books description: "Should You Donate or Throw Away Old Books? in Tempe through Give My Books Network. Free doorstep pickup, real local routing, no drive required." lang: en --- # The donate-vs-throw-away decision, simplified Should You Donate or Throw Away Old Books? in Tempe through Give My Books Network. Free doorstep pickup, real local routing, no drive required. Image: A stylized city skyline at golden hour with books in the foreground (https://givemybooksnetwork.com/assets/city-scene-fallback-yglTcFEu.jpg) Tempe, AZ # Donate or Throw Away Old Books? A Tempe Guide ## The Short Answer: Donate Almost Everything If you're staring at a box of old books wondering whether they're worth the trouble — the answer is yes. The instinct to throw them away is usually about volume and effort, not condition. The book itself is often fine. Books with reasonable wear, intact pages, and no major water or mold damage can find a second life through a community book-sharing network. ## What Counts as a Donatable Book Books with all pages, a readable cover, and no significant water damage or mold are donatable. Worn paperbacks count. Highlighted textbooks count. Older editions count. A book with a coffee stain on the cover counts. What doesn't count is anything water-damaged past readability, books with mold, or books physically falling apart. ## What Should Genuinely Go to Recycling Some honesty here. Not every book can be reused. A box that sat through Tempe's monsoon storms and got soaked. A shelf of books that survived a basement leak years ago. Books with active mold spread across pages. For those, recycling is the responsible path. The American Library Association's Book Donation Programs guide (https://libguides.ala.org/book-donations) outlines how community book donation programs route donated material across redistribution and recycling channels. Items that cannot be reused may eventually be recycled as a last resort. Give My Books Network is a nationwide community book-sharing network, and the Tempe pickups are handled by independent Local Pick-Up Partners who live and work in the same neighborhoods you do. Many items collected end up with schools, libraries, and literacy programs that request books through the Give ME Books program. ### Ready to schedule your free Tempe book pickup? We'll come to your door — no cost, no hassle. Book pickup, DVD pickup, large-quantity, estate, and more in Tempe, AZ. Or browse including,,. If you'd rather see all your choices side by side before booking anything, start with our national guide to where to donate books (https://givemybooksnetwork.com/where-to-donate-books) — it covers what each option takes and what it turns away. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Should I donate books with a creased spine or dog-eared pages? ### Do I need to recycle some books myself in Tempe? ### What about books with mold or water damage? ### Are Tempe residents better off donating large quantities or throwing them out? ### Can I donate textbooks that nobody wants to buy? ### How do I know my donated books aren't being thrown away? ## More from Tempe ## Find us in Tempe Our local Pick-Up Partners serve the Tempe area. If your exact address is inside our service area, you can book a doorstep pickup today. Loading map of Tempe, AZ… ## Ready to clear your shelves? Join thousands of Tempe neighbors who have already donated their books through the Network. ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/#organization", "name": "Give My Books Network", "legalName": "Book Sourcing Mastery, LLC", "url": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com", "logo": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "image": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "description": "Give My Books Network is a nationwide United States network of local Pick-Up Partners who collect used books, textbooks, CDs and DVDs for free directly from the donor's door, resell what is sellable and rehome the rest to schools, libraries, shelters and nonprofits.", "foundingDate": "2022", "telephone": "+1-855-506-8633", "email": "support@givemybooksnetwork.com", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "2091 Stratton Ct.", "addressLocality": "Ann Arbor", "addressRegion": "MI", "postalCode": "48108", "addressCountry": "US" }, "contactPoint": { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-855-506-8633", "contactType": "customer service", "email": "support@givemybooksnetwork.com", "availableLanguage": "English" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/givemybooksnetwork", "https://www.instagram.com/givemybooksnetwork", "https://twitter.com/givemybooks" ], "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" } }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "name": "Give My Books Network", "legalName": "Book Sourcing Mastery, LLC", "url": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com", "logo": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "image": "https://givemybooksnetwork.com/social-card.jpg", "description": "Give My Books Network provides free door-to-door book donation pickup services across the United States. Active Pick-Up Partners cover thousands of ZIP codes in 46 states — the live state-by-state coverage list is at https://givemybooksnetwork.com/service-areas. 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