Hundreds of books from Yale-NUS College bagged for disposal, supposedly unable to be donated

Students and alumni reacted with alarm at the attempted disposal of hundreds of books from Yale NUS College (YNC) on May 20, 2025.

White plastic bags, filled with books from YNC's library, were seen being loaded onto a truck from Green Orange Enviro, a recycling company and intended for shredding.

Students claimed they were not notified until the disposal had started.

Attempts to take the discarded books for themselves were supposedly rebuffed.

RFID tags, duplicates

According to student accounts of the incident, CNA reported, two NUS staff members and two employees from the recycling firm were present at the scene.

They were engaged in an intense discussion with a group of students who had gathered around the truck, querying the apparent disposal of books.

When some of the students tried to take the books that were being discarded, they were told that they were not allowed to.

The employees reportedly told students that the books were slated for disposal, and could not be donated.

When pressed on this, the NUS staff member apparently referred students to the librarian in charge.

RFID tags

According to a LinkedIn post by one Chloe Ang, a YNC alumnus, the books were mostly duplicates, with at least one other copy remaining within the NUS system, and were being disposed of to make space for the incoming Law library books.

As to why they could not be donated or transferred to other libraries, staff claimed to have received insufficient notice to dispose of the books adequately.

Difficulty with removing the RFID tags on the books was also cited as a reason for disposing the books.

However, the National University of Singapore (NUS) appears to have reversed its decision following the public outcry, CNA reported.

NUS supposedly said it would attempt to retrieve some of the books from the recycling company that collected them earlier, to be given out at a later date.

WP's Jamus Lim reacts

Workers' Party Member of Parliament (MP) Jamus Lim reacted to the news of the attempted disposal of books.

"As I’ve shared before, both my wife and I make our living through the written and spoken word. For us stout-hearted bibliophiles, we always treat books with a certain degree of reverence.

So it was somewhat distressing for us to hear about how a large number of books—previously housed at the Yale-NUS Library—had been unceremoniously discarded on a sidewalk, before they would then be shredded by a recycling service."

"One is naturally tempted to interpret the event as symbolic of the clinical manner by which the school, itself, was closed down," Lim said.

Lim said that with some "advanced planning and consultation," the books could have found an alternative home.

A Change.org petition was also set up urging the retrieval of the books, and the prevention of "future instances of similar wastage".

The petition reads:

"We express deep concern over the planned disposal of a significant number of academic materials that were in good condition.

While efforts may be underway to retrieve these materials, the initial intent to dispose of them raises serious questions on the responsible use of money and resources, NUS’s commitment to sustainability, and the value placed on academic texts that have supported past students and may continue to benefit present students of NUS."

On Aug. 27, 2021, NUS announced that the University Scholars Programme (USP) and the Yale-NUS College (Yale-NUS) would be combined into a single new college.

YNC was set to close this year, in 2025.

Mothership has reached out to NUS for comment.

Top photo courtesy of Mothership reader