Newspaper, Books and Cardboard: What Your Raddi Is Actually Worth

Raddi is the oldest scrap habit in India. Long before anyone used the word recycling, every household was already stacking newspapers on the loft and calling the kabadiwala once a quarter.

But two things have changed. Newspapers have thinned out in most homes while cardboard has exploded, because every order that arrives at your door comes wrapped in a box. And the books have piled up quietly — school textbooks nobody will open again, competitive exam guides from a year you'd rather forget, coaching notes, old registers, magazines.

Most of it is sitting in a store room right now, and all of it has a rate.

Today's Raddi Rates

Different types of paper scrap have different values. ScrapUncle currently lists separate rates for newspapers, books and cardboard:

• Newspaper - ₹14/kg
• Cardboard - ₹6/kg
• Books - ₹12/kg

These are the currently displayed ScrapUncle rates and may change depending on the city or market conditions.

Before selling, you can check the latest prices on ScrapUncle.

So those newspapers collected over several months, old school books and stacks of delivery boxes may be worth more than simply occupying space at home.

Why Newspaper Pays More Than Books and Cardboard

It comes down to how clean the fibre is. Newspaper is plain newsprint with almost nothing added to it, so it goes back into the pulping process easily. That's why it consistently sits at the top of the paper rate list.

Books and notebooks are a step below. Hard bindings, glue, plastic covers and glossy printed pages all have to be dealt with during processing, and that costs the recycler something. Glossy magazines and coated pamphlets sit lower still, because the coating has to be separated from the fibre.

Cardboard is thick and heavy, which works in your favour on the weighing scale, but it's usually priced below newspaper. What makes cardboard worth it is sheer volume. A month of online deliveries builds a pile faster than you notice, and flattening the boxes as they arrive means the stack takes almost no space.

One thing to keep in mind: wet or oil-stained paper gets rejected or downgraded. Keep the pile dry and don't put pizza boxes with grease soaked into them in the same stack.

Where This Fits in the Bigger Picture

Newspapers can pile up surprisingly quickly. Daily newspapers, supplements, magazines and other paper often end up stacked behind doors or under tables.

The same happens with old school books, college books, notebooks and study material. Once children move to the next class or a course is finished, these books can remain inside cupboards for years.

Books that are still useful can always be donated, reused or passed on to someone else. But paper items that are no longer useful can be separated as scrap and sent for recycling instead of being mixed with household waste.

The rules around this have been tightening as well. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has notified the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2026, which supersede the 2016 rules and came into effect from 1 April 2026. They build on circular economy and Extended Producer Responsibility principles, with a strong focus on segregating waste at source and handing recyclables to authorised collectors rather than letting them go into general municipal waste. You can read the official announcement on the Press Information Bureau and find the full set of waste management rules on the CPCB website.

How to Sell Your Raddi

You do not need to wait for a local kabadiwala or carry bundles of newspapers and cardboard outside yourself.

Collect your newspapers, old books and cardboard together and schedule a doorstep pickup through ScrapUncle.

Most people clear raddi along with the rest of their scrap plastic, loha, aluminium, an old appliance in a single pickup. The team comes to your door, weighs everything in front of you at the quoted rate, and pays immediately. Nothing needs to be carried down to a shop.

A stack of newspapers may look like clutter. An old textbook may look useless. A cardboard box may look like waste.

But when collected and recycled properly, they become material that can be used again and you earn something while clearing your home.