The blog, Musings of a Jewish Bookseller, reports that ArtScroll is offering 46% discounts on new chumshim (Pentateuch) to synagogues who send in the torn-off covers of old ones. The blog owner links to an ad on the ArtScroll website.
I understand the commercial logic but I find this reprehensible and wasteful. I urge readers to contact them (comments@ArtScroll.com) to get them to end this offer.
And probably Ossur. Sefarim which are still usable, and in this case, probably still used(my understanding of Artscroll’s promotion), may not be disposed of. There is an Issur of Lo Sa’asum Kain.. It is for this reason that when Sifrei Torah are no longer usable and they are Nignaz, they need to be buried in a way which will preserve them as long as possible