Recycle Rutherford and the Rutherford County Solid Waste Department, supported by YP, the publisher of theReal Yellow Pages phone directories, are encouraging Rutherford County students to recycle in the annual telephone book collection. In a competition open to all public and private schools within the county, students can collect used telephone books to win a cash prize for their classrooms. The contest will run from now through October 15. The drawing for the winners will be held at the Recycle Rutherford semi annual meeting on Monday October 22 at 7 p.m. at the Rutherford County Courthouse.  

 

You don't have to be a student to recycle phone books. If you don't know a teacher or student that will take your phone book, you can recycle it at one of the collection locations. The bins will remain in place until the end of October.

 

"The YP Project ReDirectory program provides the perfect opportunity for environmental lessons in the classroom," said Linda Stevens, coordinator of the project for Recycle Rutherford. "Our goals include not only reducing the amount of waste disposed of in Rutherford County, but also teaching students to care for the environment."

 

Participating teachers encourage their students to bring in used telephone books, then tabulate the number of books collected. The teacher or a volunteer collects the books for delivery to one of the collection centers. By October 15, each teacher emails Recycle Rutherford at recyclerutherford@yahoo.com to report the total number of books turned in by his or her class. The books can be delivered to the collection center by the end of October.Each set of ten phone books turned in earns a class one entry in a drawing for a $200 cash prize. Ten classes will earn these prizes.

 

All Rutherford County residents are encouraged to recycle old  phone books by giving them to a student at a participating school or by dropping them in the phone book bins at one of the following collection sites:

 

Facts about the Murfreesboro/Smyrna phone book:

YP directories are recyclable.  Recycled phone books are made into useful products such as animal bedding, insulation, cereal boxes, roofing shingles, new phone books and more.  YP directories are made from recycled paper waste and wood fiber waste such as sawdust and wood chips left over from lumber processing operations. Each book weighs about one and a half pounds, 1000 phone books weigh 1500 pounds.

Special thanks go to YP Project ReDirectory for their support.