Environmental Authority • EPA + USDA Sourced • CC-BY-4.0

What does your book donation actually prevent?

Drop in a quantity. Get real numbers, grounded in EPA Waste Reduction Model emissions factors and USDA Forest Service fiber-yield estimates: tons of landfill avoided, CO2-equivalent emissions prevented, trees of virgin pulp preserved, water saved, and equivalencies that translate the abstract into the concrete.

Input your donation size

Number of boxes

Standard banker box: ~35 lb of mixed books

Or pounds (optional override)

Leave blank to use box estimate

Landfill avoided

350 lb

0.18 short tons of municipal solid waste bypassing Cerro Colorado Landfill.

CO2-equivalent emissions prevented

86 kg CO2-eq

~7 days of an average US passenger vehicle's emissions.

Trees worth of fiber preserved

2.7 trees

Recycled-vs-virgin pulp differential. 1,113 gal of water also saved.

If everyone in your ZIP did this once

~10 tons

Diversion at the neighborhood scale. ABQ residential ZIP avg ~12,000 households.

Caveat: These are reasonable estimates derived from federal data. Real environmental impact depends on the actual destination of unsold copies (paper recycling vs landfill). NMLP routes ~85-95% of incoming books to non-landfill destinations: resale, classroom donation, Little Free Libraries, shelters, refugee resettlement, or industrial paper recycling. See the documented supply chain.

Methodology & sources

All conversion factors below are taken from US government scientific publications. Local Albuquerque adjustments documented at ABQ Books in the Waste Stream.

Quantity	Factor	Source
Average box of mixed books	35 lb	Standard banker box, NMLP operational measurement (2024–2026)
Paper landfill CO2-eq factor	0.49 MTCO2e per short ton	EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM) v15 — Paper chapter
US passenger vehicle CO2 baseline	4.6 MTCO2e/year	EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator
Recycled paper trees-equivalent	17 trees per short ton	USDA Forest Service R&D; Environmental Paper Network
Recycled paper water savings	7,000 gal per short ton	USDA Forest Service R&D; Conservatree.org
Paper share of US MSW landfilled	~12%	EPA Advancing Sustainable Materials Management (ASMM) 2018
ABQ metro population	~915,000	US Census Bureau ACS estimates
NMLP non-landfill diversion rate	85–95%	NMLP operational sort breakdown (2024–2026)

Cite this calculator

Eldred, J. (2026). Landfill Diversion Impact Calculator — Albuquerque Books.
New Mexico Literacy Project. CC-BY-4.0.
https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/landfill-diversion-impact-calculator-albuquerque

Convert your impact into action

The calculation above only matters if the books actually leave your house. NMLP picks up at the door, free, any quantity, any condition. No estimate required — just a phone call.

Call or Text 702-496-4214