One of the best ways to reduce land pollution is to eliminate all the excess trash that we throw away each day. Every single piece of trash adds up, and our overflowing landfills are proof of that.

There’s a great site that allows you to reduce your trash by trading, for absolutely free, all of your extra books, CDs, DVDs and video games. It’s called SwapTree.com, and it’s one of the most innovative and impressive sites out there’especially for college kids with little or no money.

How it Works

I really wish that I had found a site like this when I was paying over $500 for college textbooks every semester. You really can get any type of item for free, not including the cost of shipping (which is usually under $2.50 for most items anyways).

Here’s what you do:

1. Create an account ‘ Choose a user name and input your email address.

2. Items I Have ‘ You can use the ‘add to your have list’ located on the left-hand side of the screen. All you need is an ISBN number or UPC code for the item (which can be found somewhere on the item itself, or you can look it up on Amazon.com). You can also use the search box on the site and click ‘have it’ once your item pops up.

3. Items I Want ‘ Type in the items you want in the search box and when you see it listed click ‘want it.’

That’s really all that you need to do. SwapTree will calculate what you can get for your items from all of the other members on the site.

Some other cool things about SwapTree:

• It’s okay to trade non-similar items, like a CD for a book for a video game for a DVD.
• You can import favorite lists from Amazon or other sites.
• Easily print shipping labels with the site’s postage label system.
• Get trade requests emailed to you directly.

You can also import your email contacts and send them a message about signing up with SwapTree, and if they make a trade you can earn free shipping for an item. Click here to see:

SwapTree gives new meaning to the term recycling because items are constantly traded and reused again. The site also stops trees from being cut down for the production of new books, and it helps limit all the extra packaging that comes on brand new items.

So, if you’ve ever wanted to reduce waste, save money and find your most-wanted items, there’s no better way to do all three than by joining SwapTree.