Unconventional library for Turkish refuses collectors

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Many would probably prefer to not dwell on what happens to books thrown into the rubbish bin once their onetime reader decides to declutter their shelves.

In the Turkish capital of Ankara, however, discarded books need not necessarily end up heading for oblivion.

Instead, a surprising life after death is now in store for them thanks to a rather unconventional library.

A group of the city's rubbish collectors has set up a library boasting thousands of works that would otherwise have been swallowed in a landfill.

The books had been left out on residential streets together with other refuse for collection, sparking the idea to recycle them for a whole new readership.

Refuse collectors in a district of the Turkish capital, Ankara, have opened a library stocked with thousands of discarded books thrown out with the rubbish. /AFP Photo

Opened more than seven months ago by one district's garbage collectors and their manager, the library is housed in a disused brick factory that was already serving as a base for the workers.

The once decaying plant, abandoned 20 years ago, is now a thriving space where staff can spend their break perusing the shelves, which are stacked with some 4,750 books.

The books have so far been sorted into 17 categories, ranging from romance novels and economics textbooks to thrillers and children's fiction.

Originally intended as a library just for the refuse workers and their families, it is now open to the public too, according to Emirali Urtekin, the site's manager, whose office is equipped with other rescued items like magazines and a typewriter.

The library boasts a variety of works by top foreign and Turkish authors, including JK Rowling, Charles Dickens, JRR Tolkien, Orhan Pamuk and "Fifty Shades of Grey" author EL James.

Up to 700 rubbish collectors working for Ankara's Cankaya district can use the library, which is now open to the public too. /AFP Photo

It's accessible 24 hours a day. The renovated building is also home to a barber's shop, cafeteria, social area and offices for administrative staff.

The library has received plenty of local and international attention, leading to the arrival of more books - and not just ones from rubbish bins.

People from other Turkish cities now even pay the postal costs to send books to the library, Urtekin said, while refuse collectors continue to gather unwanted books on their daily rounds.

There are another nearly 1,500 books yet to be placed on the shelves as more are rescued and donated, he added.

No book goes to waste, with some of the nonusable books employed as shelves for the others.

Some 4,750 books are now on the shelves of the new library, with more waiting to be arranged, as the Ankara refuse collectors continue to rescue books from the rubbish bin and people have started donating them. /AFP Photo

"We're getting many visits from members of the public but also donations. They say: 'This is such a good project, we want to support it as well'," Urtekin said.

"We have given a new lease of life to those books that have been thrown away... and the books are available for free."

The manager said later in the year they will create a mobile library and visit some Ankara schools every 15 days so more children have access.

It will serve schools without libraries or with a limited choice on their shelves.

"We are happy," the manager said. "It has given us a different identity."

Source(s): AFP