Well, it’s that time of year again...it seems like every week another bag of telephone books is deposited by your front door.
What to do with the old ones? For years, it seems that the people who run the recycling programs and recycling bins have posted big warnings about how whole paper recycling loads will be rejected if phone books are found inside. So huge amounts of paper end up in the trash can, and then the landfill.
A WayneWho staffer was watching a home improvement show over the weekend, and they went to a factory that makes that blown-in cellulose insulation. The staffer was amazed when the plant manager said that their two preferred sources for paper fiber (the main content of cellulose insulation) were newspapers and PHONE BOOKS, and that they didn’t like office paper as much because the fibers were shorter and dustier.
So we went out in search to see if recycling opinions have changed. Nope. According to the Osceola County web site, phone books are still prohibited from the recycling bins. Next stop was the “Recycle Your Phone Books” link on Yellowpages.com. According to their site, the closest dropoff site for phone book recycling is the City of Orlando. Not encouraging.
Just for fun, we dropped a “bag o’ phone books” fresh off the curb onto the WayneWho office postal scale, and it came in at 7.4 pounds. Maybe one of the mathematicians among us wants to figure out how many tons of phone books are being hauled to the landfill (and remember, folks, a large part of your trash pickup fee is the tonnage taken to the landfill).
Local recycling folks, we have laid down the challenge. Maybe you want to talk to the cellulose insulation people before next year’s annual binge of phone books. We bet they’ll pay you to collect old phone books for them.
As a footnote, we read in the Monday business section of the Sentinel that Waste Management Inc. had recently presented Keep Winter Park Beautiful with a $10,000 check to be used for a number of projects, including a phone book recycling initiative. Huh. Waste Management. If only there were someone in our community who had a connection to that company. As long as we’re here, how is that grant-funded study of curbside recycling pickup going, commissioners?
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2 comments:
City of Winter Park has started recycling many additional items including the phone books, catalogs, used tissues, etc....
We have 3 new County Commissioners that have to know Osceola is behind every other central florida county and we are the only ones that don't recycle. We the citizens need to remind them how important it is to make it mandatory for all citizen.
Hi All,
Most of us have been "blessed" with a big group of new phone books. If you are looking for a way to recycle your old ones, this seems to be the possiblities for Osceola County.
1. St. Cloud a bin on 10th Street across from the Utility Plant and fire station.
2. Bass Road Landfill off Hywy 192. You have to drive through to the designated area, but they are not suppose to charge you.
If you have any contact with any of our county commissioners, you might ask them to provide a more convenient location for Kissimmee area citizens.
Merry Christmas,
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