Fun With Phone Books
Fact
Directories contain everything from numbers, to maps, to coupons. The pages are made from recycled paper and wood fiber waste such as sawdust and wood chips that might otherwise go unused. Unfortunately, we often fail to close the loop and recycle them. About 660,000 tons of phone books end up in landfills every year.
Get Started
- Be proactive and find the nearest recycling facility that accepts phone books. Earth911′s recycling locator can help you with that one. Carefully follow your program’s instructions to prepare the book – you may have to remove the magnets, plastics and any other non-paper additives.
- Try creative reuse options, such as covering the phone book with fabric to make a booster seat or door stop.
- Opt out of receiving a phone book all together.
Become a Pro
- Instead of purchasing packing peanuts, use shredded or balled up phone book pages to protect your items. Encourage family members to save the paper and reuse it when they send a package your way.
- If phone books are not accepted by your curbside program, initiate a collection day for your neighborhood and take all the directories to the recycling facility.
- Got a weed problem? Shred the pages of your old phone book and use the material in your garden. The paper is biodegradable and will eventually break down.
As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
el f
posted on September 30th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
how to you suggest we could start a recycling center? can you suggest websites with information. and any other information that may be helpful. Any advice will be appreciated. thanks
Wayne
posted on July 11th, 2010 at 10:17 am
My county no longer accepts shredded paper. when i take it to the recycling center, they now tell me to thrown it in the trash…they have no use for it. Any ideas to get this recycled? I live on the remote Eastern Shore of VA in Accomack County. Any suggestions?
Linda A.
posted on October 4th, 2010 at 6:24 am
I know Earth 911 and Yellowbook are working together to recycle old Yellowbooks, but, not all of my old phonebooks are Yellowbooks. My local dump used to have a bin for old phone company phone books (SBC, SNET, and now AT&T) but no more. Now, I have a pile of old phonebooks in the back of my car (yes, some are Yellowbooks) because I have no idea where to take them for recycling. I still want to get the print version of Yellowbook because the print version is much more convenient than always having to get on the computer just to look up a phone number. Besides, I can’t look up a number on the computer if my power goes out; I don’t have a smartphone and a wireless Internet connection.
Joseph
posted on January 29th, 2011 at 3:01 am
Unfortunately, many people here in my community doesn’t care. Many are cheap, lazy & in a hurry. Most of them throws their unwanted mail in the trash instead of recycling them. That is a shame. People should learn and recycle better.