Hippie 2.0: Better World Books Is Proving You Can Make Money Being Green

There are those who would assume that running a business that keeps old textbooks out of landfills, takes those books and sells them at a low price, and then buys carbon credits to offset emissions that result from shipping those books is actually a charity. How could a company ever make money by trying to do good things for the environment? Better World Books is out to prove those doubters wrong.

Founded by three college friends who wanted to support global literacy efforts as well as save books from landfills, the company has collected over 11.4 million books and raised more than $4.5 million USD for literacy and education non-profits, saving over 6454 tons of books from landfills, and reclaiming more than 680,000 pounds of metal from library shelving, as well as purchasing 2376 tons of carbon offset based on sales of the books they collect, based on information found on their social impact page. Those would be amazing stats for any philanthropic effort, but Better World Books is a for-profit company.

Green initiatives are the new “it” sector when it comes to venture capital, and Better World Books is a company benefiting from this increased focus. They netted $4.5 million in venture funding, with $2.5 million coming from Good Capital's Social Enterprise Expansion Fund and the other $2 million from private investors. It seems to be a smart move on the part of Better World Books' investors; the company had over $16 million in revenue last year.

It wouldn't be a bad thing for more companies to realize that not only can you make a profit, but you can make one doing something meaningful. Business models seem to be something to ignore these days, but there ARE companies out there who have them and make good on them. And while we spend a lot of time talking about doing good with social media, there are start-ups out there actually doing it.

Edited to correct total dollars raised.