Going Green: Clean Out Your High School Yearbook Closet for Earth Day

It’s spring, that time of year associated with cleaning. It’s also Earth Day, which urges each of us to consider ways to recycle, repurpose and reuse. As a yearbook staff, you are probably eagerly anticipating the smell of fresh yearbooks arriving. But, where are you going to put them? 

In case you have a couple of extra yearbooks left from previous years, we have some helpful suggestions on what to do with them to make room for your sparkling new books.

• Check with your local library. Libraries are obviously known for housing books, and it’s very likely that your local library strives to maintain an inventory of yearbooks from the local school district. People searching for yearbooks from previous years will be grateful you did.
• Reach out to your local government. The police department, fire department, city hall and other government entities might want to have copies of your yearbooks. You never know who might need them! 
• Have you given a copy to each of your school board members? This often overlooked group would appreciate a copy to give them tangible proof of the hard work you and your staff put toward recording the history of a time they impacted.
• Use to help sell future ads by giving a copy to each of the businesses that bought an ad. Be sure to have some ad agreements handy to sign them up for next year. Access more resources for selling to businesses here. 
• Talk with your school counselor. They may know exactly which students would love to get a yearbook but could not afford one. It would not be a “free” book to the recipient, simply a visit from a Yearbook Angel.
• Use social media. Facebook reunion groups are alive and well, and many members may want a second chance at purchasing a yearbook! Get an extra book out to a community member who may have missed out. 
• Know their worth. If you have copies of yearbooks older than a couple of years, they are ripe to sell! Post on your social media accounts that you have a limited number of copies to sell. Just be sure you don’t sell them for less than you were charging for them before. You don’t want to teach parents and students they can wait to get a better deal, but you do want to make sure that if anyone still needs a copy they have a way to get one.

As always, talk to your staff members for additional ideas. We know the best ideas are often those that come from those who understand the importance of yearbook and its role in the community. Happy Earth Day!