Sustainability

Cheltenham Rare Books was born of a love of beautiful books, and so when customers buy books online we want them to be delighted with the condition. Like many of the book dealers who take care to ensure books arrive in pristine condition we used to use reams of plastic bubble wrap, before boxing our books.

However, we considered the use of plastic bubble wrap unconscionable - especially when the second hand and rare book trade is, in itself, an environmentally friendly product, being of its nature reuse.

We therefore spent many hours researching and testing alternative packaging products. Ultimately we chose Geami Eco Friendly Packaging System. It's a sustainable and biodegradable kraft bubblewrap. It's highly effective cushioning - as well as being environment friendly. You can see our book packing approach here.

All other materials used in the packaging process are recyclable, from the cardboard book boxes, kraft paper - and even the kraft tape or washi tape (decorative adhesive tape made from paper) we use. Occasionally books will already have been wrapped in cellophane ahead of packaging, due to fragility or a tendency of paper on books from certain publishers to become yellow.

We changed to sustainable packaging in 2019 and since then have received lots of unsolicited feedback praising the packaging and thanking us for making the effort. You can see some of the feedback in our google reviews.

Collecting rare books is the antithesis of a 'throw away' culture, and this is underpinned by Mark's passion for ensuring the longevity of the books we sell by carefully covering them in protective wrappers.

There's more to do... but the journey's well under way.