Vending machine in Barrie gives old books a new life

CTV Barrie: New way to enjoy an old read A Barrie woman has come up with a unique way to let people on the go enjoy a good read. Heather Wright has that story.

A Barrie woman has come up with a unique way to let people on the go enjoy a good read – over and over.

It's a concept that may have you re-thinking what you throw away.

Heather wright has more on the area's first "recycled book vending machine".

“When you decide what book you want, you put the toonie in, rotate it, and out comes the book,” says Dana Clarke, who is putting a whole new spin on reduce, reuse, recycle.

“Drop a book, buy a book, keep them going.”

This is a green book vending machine – it’s the colour of a granny smith apple, and it's an environmentally-friendly way to read. For $2, you can pick out a used book and donate one when you're done. Part of the proceeds will go to literacy programs and to building schools in Africa.

“It's an impulse buy at a place where you may need a form of entertainment – transit stations, airports, hospitals,” she says.

Clarke came up with the idea after years of commuting to and from Toronto. Not only was she buying book after book after book, she wanted those books to go to good use once she was done reading them.

“They don't recycle well because of the binding, they do not decompose well, so this is the greenest method,” she says.

And the machine itself is green as well: it doesn't need electricity or batteries to run.

“The mechanism lifts the book up and drops it down,” she says.

Tiffany Caldwell has a book for her bus ride to Toronto, but says she'll remember this in the future.

“I'm not a big re-reader so it'd be cool to just come grab one and also if they had one in Toronto I'd drop it off on my way out,” she says.

Barrie Mayor Jeff Lehman came down to the Barrie Bus Terminal today to check out the new vending machine.

“One of the best things about this town – a fast-growing, young city – is people are always coming up with new ideas and one of the best things about being mayor is when people come to us with these ideas and we can help them happen,” Lehman says.

“I look forward to seeing hundreds of thousands of these across the country.”

Clarke plans to start a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to get these machines in train stations, bus terminals, and hospitals across Canada.

She also hopes to expand to the United States, but says they will have to make some design changes as there are no toonies south of the border.