Going Green at our Libraries
Recycle Week 2023 seems like the perfect opportunity to showcase all the things we do at our libraries across Blaenau Gwent to reduce, reuse and recycle in order to lower our carbon footprint and help to combat climate change.
Libraries have always been at the forefront of recycling and reusing items – encouraging our book loving members to read our books, return them and then repeat. Each year almost 80,000 books are borrowed from our libraries.
But our commitment to reducing our carbon footprint doesn’t end there:
We have switched to ABS library cards for our members, which are made from recycled PVC and are 100% recyclable.
We are an active member of the Books4U scheme, which provides FREE access to books across public libraries in South Wales, which not only helps us to improve our offer but it also reduces waste.
We use some of our discarded book stock for art and craft activities.
We work with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council to actively distribute recycling bags and battery sacks to local residents.
All our libraries are litter picking hubs – allowing residents to borrow litter picking kits from us for FREE in order to help them keep their communities litter free.
Working in partnership with the Local Authority we have installed energy efficient lighting in all our libraries, which not only helps us to reduce our energy bills but also our carbon emissions.
We have developed a ‘library of things’ for our local communities which offer more items to borrow than books – this includes our Sports Libraries providing a range of sport and fitness equipment, tablet loan scheme, selection of World Book Day costumes and the little seed library.
We are piloting an initiative to test the life span of books without using plastic jackets – helping us to further reduce the amount of plastic we use in the libraries.
Each of our libraries is a registered Warm Space – enabling people to save energy at home by spending time in the library to study, socialise or join in with free activities.
For more information on our libraries and services please visit our website here