Recycling Phonebooks
Not all recyclers take old phone books.
Know why ???
" ... fibers used to make the books’ lightweight pages are too short to be reformulated into new paper. ... mixing old phonebooks in with other waste paper can even contaminate the batch, hindering the recyclability of the other paper fibers."
" ... phonebook papers are 100 percent recyclable and are used primarily to ... make new phonebooks! ... Old phonebooks are also sometimes recycled into insulation materials, ceiling tiles and roofing surfaces, as well as paper towels, grocery bags, cereal boxes and office papers."
>>>>> To find out where to recycle your phone book, click the link and enter phone books and you ZIP, or city: Link
Here's some ideas ... " ... pages make excellent fire starters in a wood-burning fireplace or outdoor fire pit. Balled up or shredded phonebook pages also make nice packaging filler in place of problematic polystyrene “peanuts.”"
" ...can also be shredded and used as mulch to keep weeds down in your garden. The paper is biodegradable and will eventually return back to the soil. ..."
Via: About.Com Link
Why Recycle your Phone Book?
" ... if all Americans recycled their phonebooks for a year, we would save 650,000 tons of paper and free up two million cubic yards of landfill space. for each 500 books recycled, we save:
- "7,000 gallons of water"
- "3.3 cubic yards of landfill space"
- "17 to 31 trees"
- "4,100 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power an average home for six months"
Via: About.Com Link
Comments
I like your ideas about the yellow pages. Do you know if they are printed with only soy based ink?
I read an Mother Earth News article about using newspaper for mulch. Most of commenters seemed to only use black and white newspaper with soy based inks. I guess to lessen the toxicity of the chemicials from the newspaper into the soil. I wonder if the yellow pages of the phone book would be a problem?
I like your peanut suggestion. Then someone could just recycle the paper. Nice post. Anna
www.green-talk.com
Posted by: Anna | March 12, 2008 01:50 PM