Donate Books in Plymouth | Free Collection

Plymouth is a city with a strong reading culture and, for many households, shelves that have quietly reached their limits. Whether you’re in Plymstock, Plympton, Saltash or Ivybridge, Anglo Doorstep Collections makes it easy to donate books in Plymouth — coming directly to you, completely free, so clearing your surplus reads never means loading up the car and hunting down a drop-off point. Paperbacks, hardbacks, children’s picture books, cookbooks, DVDs and CDs are all welcome, provided they’re dry and in reasonable condition.

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How the Collection Works

What We Collect

Pack your donations into small, manageable bags or boxes — a single bag is every bit as welcome as a stack of several. We accept:

Across Plymouth and the Surrounding Area

With a population of around 264,000 spread across a wide stretch of South Devon, Plymouth is exactly the kind of city where a doorstep service makes a genuine difference. Driving across the city to reach a charity shop or drop-off point is an inconvenience most people quietly put off — which is how perfectly good books end up sitting in a corner for months. We collect right across Plymouth, including Plympton and Plymstock, and also serve nearby Saltash and Ivybridge, so wherever you are in this part of Devon, arranging a collection is straightforward.

For households with textbooks or subject guides that have reached the end of their use, those titles are often exactly what other readers and students are looking for. Packing them into small, manageable bags rather than a single heavy crate makes the whole process easier on collection day — and means nothing gets left behind simply because it was too awkward to lift.

Who Tends to Book

One Visit Covers It All

Books and media rarely account for everything you want to pass on. Set them out alongside clothes, toys or kitchenware and the driver takes the lot in a single trip. If the collection is on the larger side, it can be split across more than one visit without any difficulty.

We also cover nearby Solihull and Coventry — the full list is on our collections near you page.

What Happens to Your Donations

Good-condition titles go directly to the charities and reuse partners we work with, where they’re resold or passed on to new readers who’ll genuinely use them. A large percentage of proceeds goes to charity. Only books too worn or damaged to be of use to anyone are sent for recycling — and even then, that’s very much a last resort.

There’s a meaningful environmental dimension to this too, particularly for a city of Plymouth’s size. When books, CDs and DVDs go to landfill, the paper, card and plastic they contain break down and release methane — a harmful greenhouse gas. Based on published UK estimates, reusing books means no new pulping, printing or transport is needed, sparing the water and carbon emissions involved in producing fresh copies. Across a city of around 264,000 people, the cumulative effect of residents choosing to donate rather than discard is genuinely significant — and it helps Plymouth Council’s wider ambitions around reducing waste and keeping usable items in circulation.

Unwanted books and media that have no easy route out of the home can end up contributing to clutter, or in the worst cases, to fly-tipping. A free, no-effort doorstep collection removes that pressure entirely and helps keep Plymouth’s streets and green spaces looking their best — keeping good items in use locally rather than becoming someone else’s problem.

“In a city like Plymouth, where so many households are reorganising, downsizing or simply running out of shelf space, keeping books and media in circulation rather than sending them to waste makes a quietly significant difference — to the people who receive them, and to the environment.”