Guidelines for Developing A Community-based
Telephone Book Recycling Program

Developed by The Environmental Affairs Department

(A Major Regional Directory Publishing Company)

Lynn Thompson

Environmental Affairs Manager

Table of Contents

The Partners:

A successful recycling program for old phone books requires the cooperation of many partners, and several logistical pieces must be in place.  These guidelines work backwards from the end user, due to its importance in the program.

The End User

The first piece that must be in place to recycle old phone books is an end market for the recovered directories.  Although this is the last step of the entire process, if nobody wants the books, there’s no sense in collecting them in the first place!

            To maximize the efficiency of your program, you’ll want an end market that is located near your community.  Transportation costs are high, and the closer you are to your end market, the better.  A local mill is the best option, as their likelihood of accepting the books is higher; they may agree to do so as a community service.

            Several things can be manufactured from old phone books.  The most common are cellulose insulation and hydromulch.  Often, the same companies make both of these products.  Some state recycling organizations have a list of manufacturers who accept various types of recycled materials, and can help you locate a nearby end market for the phone books.  Other products made from recovered phone books include:

·        backing & facing paper for gypsum wallboard

·        molded packaging like paper egg cartons or protective inserts for shipping boxes

·        animal litter or bedding

·        weed barrier products made from paper

·        paper for envelopes, folders & index cards

A growing use for old phone books is in composting operations.  The water-soluble glue is “like gravy” for the organisms that digest material in these facilities.  Check with local organics recycling organizations in your area to see if any such facilities exist nearby.

Not all mills accept all types of paper, so you need to speak with the mill buyer to make sure they can accept phone books.  Check with the publishers of the books in circulation in your area ( there are likely more than one publisher’s books being circulated) to make sure they have been manufactured to be recyclable.  Mills may have concerns about the type of glue, coatings, or inks used in the books, or about the paper itself.  You should know this information before approaching any mills.  BellSouth manufactures its directories to the highest standards of recyclability, including using water-soluble glue, soy-based inks, and natural coatings.  The books are also printed on paper with 45% recycled content.

Another thing you will need to ascertain from the mill is whether they can accept the phone books loose-loaded, or if they will need to be baled. Baling them adds an additional step, as well as additional cost for the program.  Also ask whether the books need to be kept dry, and how much moisture the mill can accept in them.  This may have an impact on the end market you are able to use.

If the end user will pay you for the phone books, it can help to cover the cost of the program.  However, phone books are not a valuable grade of recovered paper.  Due to their bulk, glue, and the amount of ink on them, they take longer to break down in some mills’ recycling processes and are not as desirable as some other types of scrap paper.  This can make them an attractive alternative when paper prices are high, but when they are low (which is usually), and there are other alternatives available for a reasonable price, the phone books become less attractive.  You may be doing well just to find someone who will accept the books without charging you for taking them!

Transportation

            The phone books you collect must get to your end user somehow.  If you have a local end market, the waste hauler or processor who handled them earlier may be able to transport them there (see sections on processors & haulers below).  But if your market is in another city, you will need to enlist the help of a trucking company.

            Usually, the mill buyers have worked with several trucking companies and can recommend one.  They may even handle the transportation for you, as this is something they do all the time and can likely get a good deal with a company with whom they do regular business.  They also have billing methods in place and know the “lingo” to discuss options with the trucking firms.  Some may even have the availability of rail lines at their location as an alternative form of transportation.

One thing you should know:  truckers usually haul phone books in 20-ton trailerloads.  (This only physically fills the truck about 1/3 of the way, but is the heaviest load they are allowed to carry over most roads.)  If your community does not expect to recover this many phone books in your recycling program, you may be able to partner with other nearby small communities to get a full load of phone books that you can market cooperatively.  If not, most truckers impose a chargeback fee on less-than-full loads, which are known as “LTL” shipments.

Appendix 2 shows a chart of actual results for first-year programs in which BellSouth was a partner.  This may help you to estimate your first-year tonnage.

Recycler/Processor

            Before the books can be shipped to an end market, they will need to be staged and prepared somewhere.  Phone books that get very wet will begin to decompose, and generate heat to the point that they can spontaneously combust!  For this reason, the books should be stored where they can be kept dry.

            If the books are collected in a curbside program, they must also be separated from the other recyclables collected there.  Since phone books are a seasonable commodity in most areas, the processor usually hires extra help to do this.  This adds cost to the program.  Even books that are collected in an all-drop-off program will have some contamination in the loads.  Depending on how clean your end user needs the books, other items like drink cans or other garbage thrown into the containers by the public may need to be pulled out of the loads of phone books.

            Here’s a nod to thinking outside the box – your processor doesn’t have to be a government entity or a professional waste processing company.  In Jackson, Mississippi, for example, Goodwill Industries has served as the processor for several years.  They meet the basic qualifier of having enough space to store the books where they’re kept dry.  Other communities have used a local chapter of the Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC) or a prison warehouse to stage their books prior to shipment.  Using prison labor to pick through the books for contamination can also save you money on the processing costs for the books.  The prison system may charge a nominal amount for the use of their labor and cost of supervision, but the prisoners work for less than minimum-wage workers.  In some counties, the local prison system runs the entire county recycling program.

            Determine when your processor will accept the phone books.  Some will take them year-round, while others only want them during delivery of new directories to the area.  Ask the directory publishers when they will be delivering the new books so you can figure out when the bulk of old ones will be hitting the waste stream.  If there is more than one publisher delivering books into the area, they are not likely to be delivered at the same time.  You need to decide whether the community will hold more than one recycling program for phone books, stretch it out longer to cover both (or sometimes more) deliveries, or just recycle them year-round.

Waste Hauler

            Since you will likely have more than one drop-off site, or be accepting phone books in the curbside program, someone must transport them to the processor’s facility.  Sometimes the processing company is also the hauler, and sometimes they are a different company.  The hauler also handles placement and servicing of any containers that are placed at drop-off sites or for special events.  They may be able to donate their services as a community project, but if not, there will be a cost involved for container rental, placement, and servicing.  Some counties operate their own hauling operations, while others have contracts with private haulers.

            Remember the needs of your end market when designing a drop-off program.  Do the books need to be kept dry?  If so, you will need covered containers, if the hauler has any available.  Sometimes this is not an option, and you must take whatever they have.  One community uses containers that were designed for a cardboard recycling program; they are covered, and have only small slots in the sides of the containers to minimize contamination by garbage.

City and County Governments

            These can be important partners.  They usually have recycling programs in place (whether curbside collection or drop-off), and have either their own staff who handles recycling, or contracts with private waste haulers and processors.  Having these contracts gives them leverage to ask for donations of services you may not otherwise be able to get.  They also usually have a public education campaign about their recycling program that can include your phone book collection in it.  The recycling coordinator or solid waste director of these entities would be the right person to approach, if you’re not already this person!

            Another important reason to include these partners is that they usually have large numbers of employees who will need to recycle their old phone books.  One community offers a phone book recycling contest for its city employees – each employee writes his or her name on the inside cover of their old phone books before placing them in the container for recycling.  Books are drawn randomly from the container during the program, and winners receive T-shirts, tote bags, and other promotional items from the KAB affiliate.  Employees are notified about the program via e-mail.

Sponsors

            Regardless of how many services you get donated by the various partners in the program, there will be costs involved.  Someone has to cover them. 

In return for their sponsorship, the sponsors’ logos should be shown on all printed publicity about the program, and they should be mentioned in all press releases about it.  If you do an appreciation ceremony for the collection contest winners, give your sponsors the opportunity to have someone involved in it to represent them.  Perhaps they have a costumed character who would add panache to your photos of the event.  One community’s recycling coordinator sends a letter to the editor of their local newspaper at the end of their phone book recycling program to mention and thank all sponsors.  After all, without them, the program wouldn’t be possible.  Potential sponsors include the directory publishers, waste haulers, recycling companies, state & local governments, and prominent local businesses.

Local Professional Sports Teams & Attractions

            On occasion, minor-league sports teams, zoos, shopping malls, or recreational attractions will be willing to support your program by holding a special recycling event at their location.  Approach them with the understanding that they want to draw more people into their facility.  (This is what’s in it for them.)  Perhaps they have a slow day of the week when they could use more patrons, and would be willing to offer the public a discounted admission, free drink, or other enticement to encourage them to recycle their old phone books there that day.

            If you hold such a collection event, you will need to arrange with your waste hauler to have a container placed during the event and picked up afterward.  You should also have someone on location during the event to give out promotional items and/or “proof of recycling” tickets to the recyclers so they can exchange them for their admission, drink, or whatever the offer is.  This also gives you the opportunity to interact with the public, and educate them further about recycling’s benefits.

            Having some kind of a “hook” for a special event of this nature will help to interest the public in it.  For example, at a zoo event, you could tell the public your goal is to collect enough old phone books to match the weight of one of their resident elephants or other heavy animals.  One community who has a recycling night with the local baseball team challenges fans to bring in enough old phone books to match the weight of the team.

Schools and Community Non-Profit Groups

            Even if your community has a curbside recycling program for residents, the bulk of phone books in circulation are in businesses.  Most of these companies are very happy to have schools, church youth groups, or other non-profit groups come by and pick up their old phone books.  Many companies are charged for waste hauling based on the weight of that waste, and phone books add a lot of weight.  If you can help businesses cut costs, they are usually more than happy to let you do so.

            Schools are especially good to get involved because of the educational value of the program for the students.  If possible, try to provide some kind of educational material about recycling to the teachers so they can incorporate it into their lesson plans.  This will help by giving them some “real-life” examples to tie what the students are learning in class in with the project they’re doing to help the school and community.  (One community even uses wrist bands on younger students to send word to parents about their phone book recycling program; this way, they don’t have to worry about lost flyers!)

If you have sponsors (see section on Sponsors) that are helping to pay for your program, you may also have funds to cover prize money for a collection contest between these groups.  Try to structure the contest so that all groups get something for their efforts, while also encouraging larger amounts to be collected; picking up phone books is hard work, and you don’t want to discourage anyone from participating in future years.  At the very least, each group should get some kind of certificate or recognition for their participation.  You can make these very inexpensively in your computer, and print them out on fancy paper bought at the office supply store. 

            It’s also helpful to provide the participating groups with a list of possible locations they can call to get large numbers of old phone books.  The directory publishers may be able to help you put together such a list, or you can simply prepare one from looking in the Yellow Pages under headings like Apartments, Hospitals, Hotels & Motels, etc. and adding any large companies you know of in your community.  Also make sure they have guidelines on how their results will be tracked (most use an honor system and have each group keep track of their own recovery) and how they will be rewarded. You should set a minimum standard for the groups to qualify for prizes; otherwise you may have dozens of groups who collected only ten phone books and expect prize money for it!

            Add extra interest to your program by awarding individual recognition for largest numbers of books collected, or prizes for the oldest or farthest-away phone books brought in.  One community offers a special prize to the student who collects the most old phone books from a single location.  These types of incentives can also give you something of interest for a press release about the program (see “Publicity” section of this package).  Appendix 4 gives additional tips on designing a phone book recycling program.

Some school collection programs use Gaylord boxes to store phone books at the schools because they can be transported to the processor and the end user in the boxes.  Whether or not your community can use them depends on the needs of your end user and/or processor; ask them which collection method works best for them.

The General Public

            Last, but not least, the public should be involved in your program.  They must be involved, since they are the ones who will actually put forth the effort to recycle their old phone books.  They should be aware of the mechanics of how to recycle, the reasons for recycling the books (see “Publicity” section) and should also be informed afterward of the impact the program has had on the environment.  The more visible your program is to them, the better your participation will be.  Show them how recycling benefits themselves and their families, and they will respond.

            A great way to reach families is through school-age children.  They will put tremendous pressure on their parents to “do the right thing”.  But don’t neglect other demographic groups in the community:  single people, childless couples, or empty-nesters.  Different types of events or promotions may be needed to reach each of these groups.  If your community has a college or university, this is also another unique “sub-community” within the larger area.  Contact the school’s recycling coordinator to coordinate promotion of your recycling program on campus.

            One community holds a special collection event in public housing neighborhoods that rewards the neighborhood with free trees based on the number of old phone books they recycle.  This is a way to help beautify the neighborhoods, while educating citizens about the benefits of recycling, and with a group that may be missed by other types of events or publicity.

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Planning A Phone Book Recycling Program:

Assembling the Committee

            Assemble your planning committee to include representatives of the various partners you’ll need in the program.  Make sure someone from all the necessary entities is included in your meeting invitations.  The reason for including everyone from the planning stages is that they will feel more of a sense of ownership of the program if they were involved from the beginning.  You can also draw from a the ideas springing from a variety of viewpoints this way.

            In many communities, the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate coordinates the entire phone book recycling program.  This is a good partner to have on board because of their positive image within the community and the support they already have from businesses in the area.  They likely also already have a positive relationship with the media that will help you to get publicity for the program.

You may want to get a verbal agreement about participation in the program from the various partners prior to the meeting, so that it just becomes a venue for everyone to meet face-to-face and iron out the minor details.  You may need two or even three meetings the first year to make sure everything is in place.

            Many companies have a community service or public relations director.  This person’s job is to represent the company by getting involved in community events – just like your phone book recycling program!  If you want some media coverage for your program, recruit a representative of a local newspaper, radio or TV station – or all three – to serve on your committee.  If you plan to hold an event with the local baseball team, or at the local water park or golf course, have someone from there serve on your committee. 

If you’ll be holding a collection contest among local schools, by all means have someone from the school board present when you’re planning it.  If the school board has a recycling coordinator, this may be the correct person, or if not, their PR or media relations director.

Check Appendix 6 to identify potential public-sector partners.

Most of these people will be happy to serve on your committee.  It’s an honor to be asked to serve the community, and a mark of leadership to be in on the planning of a major event.

Determining a Timeline

            Find out from the directory publisher for your area when their new directories will begin being delivered.  This will usually be at the same time each year, but may vary slightly from year to year.  If there is more than one publisher’s book in circulation, make sure you consider all the potential delivery times when planning the timing of your program.  You’ll need to start planning several months in advance of the earliest directory delivery date.  Have an end user lined up prior to your first meeting, as the program can’t take place without this crucial part.

            Start your collection of old directories about the time new directories begin being delivered to the area.  You’ll want to extend it until a couple of weeks after the delivery is completed, because people tend to want to transfer over notes and phone numbers from their old books to their new ones before recycling them.

            Some communities’ curbside programs accept phone books year-round.  Even if yours does, you’ll want to have a special recycling push during the delivery of new books, when the highest volume of old ones will hit the waste stream.  Remember, the largest amount of phone books are in the commercial sector, and they don’t have curbside recycling available to them.  Even the residents who do won’t always remember that they can recycle their phone books in the program, and need to be reminded.

Financing

            Your program will have costs associated with it.  These must be planned for in order to ensure that the program is executable.  You may be able to recruit partners who will donate in-kind services for the program.  Sponsors or the city or county’s budget will have to cover the rest.  Appendix 2 will help you to anticipate program expenses and plan for how they will be covered.

Setting the Goal

            If your community has recycled phone books before, you can use historical data to set a goal for this year’s program.  Setting a goal helps you plan for program costs and logistics, as well as giving the community something to strive for.

            Your directory publishers may be able to give you a figure for the tons of directories they delivered last year in your area.  These are the books that will now be available for recycling.  Recovery can vary from between 5% to over 50% of the available tonnage – one community even records over 100% recovery annually! 

            To estimate the amount of phone books your community could recover in a first-year program, it’s helpful to know from the directory publisher(s) how many tons are in circulation there.  If they can break down these figures into the books in residential and commercial circulation, that may also be helpful.  When asked during a survey whether they recycled their old directories, 61% of homes and 60% of businesses said yes.  The tendency among those surveyed to want to give the “right” answer probably means that the percentages of those who actually recycled their books were a bit lower.  Results tend to bear this out, with first-year programs averaging 21% of available tonnage recycled.

            Appendix 3 shows a chart of actual results for first-year programs in which BellSouth was a partner.  It may help you to estimate your first-year tonnage.

Post-Campaign Wrap-up

            After your program is completed, you may want to hold a post-campaign meeting with your planning committee.  This will be useful to identify the things that went well, and those that will need to be done differently in the future.  Do this as soon as possible after the program ends, while the details are still fresh in everyone’s minds.  This meeting is also a good time to express your appreciation to the partners who made the program possible.  Making it a luncheon is a nice way to ensure that your sponsors remain on board for next year’s program.

            Present your sponsors with certificates of appreciation, at the very least.  This will ensure their continued involvement in future years.  If your budget allows (or if you recruited your partners wisely), you may be able to have plaques prepared for at least the major sponsors.  If you held a collection contest during your program, and plan to have an awards ceremony for the winners, you can use the wrap-up meeting to plan this event, or hold the meeting immediately prior to it so you can recognize sponsors and partners at the same time as the contest winners.

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Publicizing a Phone Book Recycling Program:

Publicity

            You will need to let people know about your program, especially the first year.  Make sure they know of the dates and proper recycling methods, but you’ll also need to let them know why they’re recycling.  Tell them how many tons of phone books are in circulation in your community.  Tell them about the resources saved by recycling paper, and about what the books will be made into.

            In some communities, BellSouth offers the option of receiving a directory on CD-ROM.  Businesses who receive a large volume of paper directories can order the CD instead.  It is loaded onto the company’s network server, and everyone on the network can access the directory electronically instead of on paper.  To reduce the directories to be recycled in future years in your community, you may want to promote the CD-ROM locally.  Check the website, www.therealyellowpageslive.com, to see if your directory is one for which a CD will be produced.  If so, begin this promotion several months in advance of the delivery of new directories.  Target the promotion to large businesses in the area.  This way, when new directories are delivered, the overall tonnage (those are the books you’ll  be recycling next year) will be reduced.

Relate any tonnage or resource savings figures to pictures people can get their minds around.  For example, saying “60 tons of old phone books were recovered” doesn’t have quite the impact of saying “the old phone books that were recovered weigh as much as 20 adult elephants!”  The second option puts a powerful image into people’s minds that helps them understand the impact of what they are doing.

Holding a press conference to kick off your program can get you a lot of media coverage at the beginning, when you need it most.  Make the event a light brunch, or serve refreshments of some kind, to improve media turnout.  Send all the local media a press kit with information about your program and an agenda for the event.  Invite local political figures to speak about the importance of the program to your community.  Have representatives of all your partners and sponsors on hand, and give them an opportunity to speak, if they wish.  If you hold a poster contest or similar event for school children, award the prizes to the winners at the kickoff.  Some communities have sculpture contests and display the artwork at their kickoff events.  Anything visual will improve your chances for getting a photo in the local newspaper, or even getting TV coverage.  Several additional ideas are described at the end of this section.

If you’re holding a special event with a local sports team, zoo, or other facility (see above), do a special release on it about a week ahead of time.  This will give the newspapers a chance to mention it in their column of “to-do” events for the weekend.  Some of the local broadcast media may also mention it on the air to improve turnout.  Tie the release in with the type of event; for example, at a zoo event, tell how many “elephants’ worth” of phone books you hope to collect, or adopt one of the zoo’s large animals as the “face” of the event.  One annual zoo recycling event had a mascot called “Belle the Recycling Rhino”, and the event was called “Bring it Back for Belle”, with a smiling rhinoceros in the logo.

When doing a press release, it’s a good idea to call all the local media first (if you don’t have a state media directory, use the Yellow Pages to look up Newspapers, Television Stations and Radio Stations).  For newspapers, find out the name of the editor to whom you need to address your press release, and talk to him/her about the type of material they need.  This will give you a better idea as to how to word your release to improve its chances of getting picked up.  For TV and radio stations, it’s usually the Public Service Director who should get your call and press release.  They may ask you to write a 30- or 60-second public service announcement (PSA) for them to read on the air.  There are standard formats for press releases and PSA’s; consult reference material at your local library for guidelines.  Do make sure you answer the “Five W’s”:  Who, What, Where, When, and Why – and the added “H” – How.  One of your partners in planning the program may have expertise in this area, and be able to handle this for you.

If you’re having a collection event where community groups are bringing in the books they’ve collected, make sure the local newspaper knows about it in advance so they can send a photographer.  You may want to list “photo opportunities” at the end of your release and describe the types of pictures they would be able to get at the event.  (Example:  “school children recycling old phone books at the county’s recycling facility, school buses, cars and trucks coming in to unload old phone books collected for recycling, big checks being presented to community non-profit groups”)

Another option for publicity is the local cable-access or government channel.  See if there’s a talk show on which you can appear as a guest.  In some smaller TV markets, the regular local network affiliates may also have such opportunities on a morning or lunchtime talk show.  Take some visual items related to your phone book recycling program (something made from the old books, or a curbside bin with a phone book in it) to add interest, and make sure you meet with the host beforehand to discuss what you’d like to convey to the audience and find out about any requirements or suggestions they have for you.  Plan on making three key points, and practice answering any question by going back to those key points.

When you appear on a TV show, wear a solid color of clothing (patterns sometimes do crazy things on camera), preferably in a bright color.  Avoid flashy jewelry that will catch the studio lights, or jangly bracelets that will make a racket over the microphones.  A tailored blazer is a good choice, because you may have to wear a lavalier-style microphone, and the lapels provide a good anchor for the clip-on mike, while the cord for it can be run down your back underneath your jacket to be less obvious.  Make sure to have some face powder with you to powder the shine from your face just before you go on camera – and don’t forget to brush off any that falls onto your jacket!  Be yourself, remember your key points, smile, and have fun!  You should usually direct your comments to the interviewer, not directly into the camera.  If you’re asked a question you weren’t expecting, redirect the conversation back to one of your key points.  The whole thing will be over before you know it!

Remember to mention your sponsors in any publicity you do.  When you have the final recovery figures, do a “post-campaign” press release about the books recovered and the impact the program had on the environment.  This will give the complete picture of your program to the public and make them feel good about what they have accomplished as a community.

Another means of getting word out about your program is through Earth 911.  This is a free service made possible by funding from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several private-sector partners.  Consumers can call a toll-free number (1-800-CLEANUP) or visit the website (www.cleanup.org) and key in their zip codes to view information about environmental and recycling projects going on in their area.  The site also contains a wealth of information about environmental and conservation matters.  Beginning in the spring of 2002, BellSouth will be including the Earth 911 contact information on the plastic bags used for residential deliveries of directories in most areas.  You’ll also find a link to it on the company’s recycling website, www.bellsouth.com/recycle.

Earth 911 also has free public service announcements (PSA’s) available to county recycling coordinators through their website.  They will also localize these with a tag on the end and give you advice on how to get them run in your local media.  The service can be used to promote not only your phone book recycling program, but any type of recycling you do, as well as cleanups organized by local Keep America Beautiful affiliates.  The more information you list on the site, the better value your PSA’s will yield.

Additional Ideas:  Some communities who have school phone book recycling contests hold a field day to kick off their event.  Reporters are invited, enticed with photo opps of students involved in activities that help them learn, such as “phone book lookup contests”, or “phone book toss” competitions.  Others hold the kickoff at a local mall or shopping center, and invite local community leaders to speak.  One held a poster contest in the schools, and awarded prizes to the winners at the kickoff.  Mascots and kids in uniform always make great photos for the newspaper. 

In Miami, Florida, program organizers adopted a rhinoceros at Metrozoo, naming her “Belle, the Recycling Rhino”.  The kickoff was held at the zoo, with media able to photograph the rhino with some phone books.  She became the face of the entire campaign, with a slogan of “Bring it Back for Belle”.

Some communities who hold non-profit or school phone book recycling contests schedule one or two major drop-off events, when the groups all bring in the books they’ve collected.  This is a great opportunity for media photos to show children in uniforms representing various groups serving their community.

A school in Knoxville, Tennessee built a replica of Neyland Stadium from old phone books, using their own photos in the stands to be the fans.  Another built a “house” of phone books in the local mall to tie in with their local Habitat for Humanity fundraiser.  One caution here – make sure to restrict public access to such structures to minimize the danger of injuries to children who might be tempted to crawl into an unstable structure.

Advertising

This subject is being addressed separately from publicity because there is a distinct difference between the two:  publicity is free, and you must pay for advertising!

            Not all budgets allow for advertising of your program, but if yours does, by all means do so.  A variety of advertising media are available, and each has its pros and cons.

Television

Pros:  High visibility that increases awareness of your program.

Cons:  High cost makes this unavailable to most communities without a media partner.  You must also either pay the station to produce the spots or have them prepared by a media company to give to the station.

Tips:  Most TV stations have a community or public service director.  Approach this person about possibly running some public service announcements (PSAs) for you at no charge.  They may also give you some additional air time if you purchase a nominal amount of paid ad time; these are known as “paid PSAs”.  You’ll need to provide the PSA’s in Beta format for most stations, although some in larger markets may have already switched over to digital.  Be forewarned that free airtime is usually on in the middle of the night.  Also consider that during election years, TV stations must offer their lowest rates to all political candidates, so are far less likely to cut you any kind of deals on the ad rates.  Stations are no longer required by the FCC to run PSAs, so if they do so, it will be entirely as a community service.

            Make your PSAs in a 30-second format.  Be brief and to-the-point.  Don’t try to list a myriad of drop-off sites on the screen; nobody will pay any attention to it.  Save this for print ads.  Your main goal here is to raise awareness.  List a phone number or website at the end of the spot where people can get more information.

If you don’t have a PSA to promote your program, hold a contest for school children to create some for you.  This will take several months to put together, as you must promote it to the schools, allow them time to prepare their entries, judge them to select the winner(s), and have the TV station re-film the winning spot(s) professionally.  A PSA contest can be a good way to involve schools in your program if your community’s new directories are delivered in the summer, making a school collection contest impossible.

Earth 911 also has free PSAs available to cities and counties, and can put a tag onto the end of them with your local contact information, all at no charge to you.  They’ll even give you some ideas to help you get them run on your local TV station for free.  Check them out at their website, www.cleanup.org.

Radio

Pros:  Allows for broadcast of your message at a lower cost than TV.

Cons:  Most radio stations are formatted to appeal to a specific audience.  You will need to place ads on several to cover the entire community.

Tips:  With consolidation in the broadcasting industry, a handful of companies usually own all the radio stations in any given market.  Advertising with the one who owns the majority of stations in your community will give you broader coverage than approaching the stations individually.  Just as with TV stations, radio stations are no longer required by the FCC to run a certain amount of PSAs, so any they give you will be a community service and will not likely get the best air time.

            Radio PSAs are done in 30- and 60-second formats.  Some stations have even started using a 15-second format for some.  Provide scripts to the stations that are timed to all three lengths (read them aloud and time yourself) so the stations can choose which they will run.  You can provide tapes of someone reading the scripts, but many stations prefer to use their own personalities to voice them.  Like the TV stations, radio stations have a public service director you should approach about running some spots for you at no charge.  You will get more frequency of the message if you purchase some air time rather than expecting them to do everything free.

            If you are lucky enough to have a partner with a regular show on the radio, be sure to ask them to mention your program while they’re on the air!

Newspapers

Pros:  Print ads allow you to feature more information, like drop-off site locations or maps.  Local daily newspapers usually  have high penetration in the community and high readership.

Cons:  Ad space in major daily newspapers can be expensive.  They also have a limited life, and you must run ads at multiple times to improve their chances of being read.

Tips:  Consider recruiting the local newspaper as one of your program partners.  This will make them more likely to give you some free publicity in addition to whatever ad space you buy in their newspaper.  Make sure you understand their deadline schedule and get your ad copy to them in plenty of time.  Provide them with a camera-ready version of your ad(s).  If possible, place your ad in the Local or Metro section of the newspaper, as readers of this section tend to be more community-minded. 

The newspaper’s ad rep can guide you in matters such as size, layout and placement.  Newspaper ads are sold in “column-inches”.  Don’t crowd the ad space with too much copy; white space draws a reader’s eye to your ad.  Use a catchy graphic to get your point across instead of a lot of text.  Placing the graphic in the upper-left quadrant of your ad causes the reader’s eye to naturally flow into the ad copy. 

Consider weekly tabloid newspapers or shoppers as lower-cost print vehicles for your message.  And if your community has a large population that speaks another language with a newspaper targeted specifically to them, don’t forget to include ads there, as well.  Hispanics are America’s fastest-growing minority, and not just in south Florida.

Magazines

Pros:  High visibility and a first-class look.

Cons:  Extremely high cost and deadlines too far in advance for last-minute placement of ads.

Tips:  These are not usually a good vehicle for phone book recycling information.  Their audience may have more specific interests about social events and local personalities than that of a general-interest newspaper.  If you do decide to use a local magazine, you should know that ad space is sold based on the amount of the page you are buying (full page, half-page, quarter-page, etc.  The magazine’s ad rep can advise you further on available ad sizes and appropriate content.

Billboards

Pros:  High visibility in the location of the billboard.  Good for raising awareness of your program.

Cons:  Targeted to specific areas of town; you will have to purchase several to cover the entire area.  Not room for much copy.

Tips:  Think of these like a print version of your TV ads.  You can’t cram in a lot of detail, and will only have room for a headline and one graphic.  You may list a phone number; however, all but the simplest of website addresses will get lost.  Remember, people are driving past this billboard, and don’t have a lot of time to read what’s on it.  A quick impression to generate interest and raise awarenss is your goal here.

Movie Screens

Pros:  A captive audience with nothing else to watch while waiting for the movie to start.

Cons:  If your community has several multiplexes owned by different companies, you must purchase ads from each of them to cover the entire area.

Tips:  This is an often-overlooked means of getting the word out about your program.  You can even use them to educate the moviegoers by making them into little quizzes with an answer that pops up a couple of slides later (it will likely cost you extra for the second placement).  Most theaters have flyers available in the lobby that tell you who to contact to place these kinds of ads.

Posters

Pros:  You can produce some types of these in-house, saving on production costs.  Stores will usually allow you to place them at no charge.

Cons:  You must place these yourself, which can be very time-consuming.  You must also remember to go and get them when your program is over, or have them adding to the waste stream.

Tips:  If you’re going to produce the posters in-house, make sure your computer has an output device that will handle oversized paper.  A regular 8 ½” x 11” sheet of paper, even in a bright color, doesn’t get a lot of attention from shoppers heading into a store.  Most reasonably priced computer printers will print on paper as large as tabloid size (11” x 17”, twice the size of a regular sheet of paper like this). 

            Use the same rules as for billboards, as that’s really what these are, on a much smaller scale.  Keep your copy short & sweet, and refer them to your phone number or website for additional information.  You may even want to make some posters “fringed” across the bottom with the little tear-off pieces that have your phone number or website on them so people won’t have to remember it or write it down.  (You remember those from college, right?  “Roommates needed” or “Couch for sale”?)

If your posters will be up for some time and may get wet, consider having them laminated.  Although this adds cost, consider that the ink from most inkjet printers will run if it gets wet, so it will save you from going back out to replace them.

Utility Bills

Pros:    Reaches all homes & businesses with electrical or water service in the area.  If the utility has a newsletter, you may be able to get a small blurb in this.  Some utilities may do this for you at no charge.

Cons:   There may be a charge for placing the information on the bills or in the envelopes.  If you are using an insert, you will incur costs for having these printed.  If you want a message at the bottom of the bill, the amount of information you can include will be severely limited.

Tips:     Start investigating this possibility several months in advance, especially to get your information into a newsletter that’s enclosed in utility bills.  Your best option may be a short message referring people to your local website or listing the Earth 911 website address and toll-free number.

Website

Pros:  You can put a lot of information on your own website.  Most Internet service providers (ISPs) give you a free website when you sign up for their service, and provide guidelines for building it.

Cons:  If you aren’t very computer literate, you’ll need to hire a webmaster to build the site for you.  Your site must also be maintained to replace outdated information with new, and to put in fresh items to keep people coming back to it.

Tips:  Make sure the host of your website is going to be around for a while.  Nothing is worse than trying to get your site updated, only to find that your webmaster has decided to take a year off to tour the Himalayas in Tibet.

            Include graphics and animation to make your site interesting.  (All text gets boring.)  Surf the web yourself to see what kinds of sites you find interesting, and model your site after those.  Be careful to use graphics with small file sizes so that the site doesn’t take but a few seconds to download; many people get tired of waiting after about 7 seconds, and will move on to another site rather than wait for yours to download.

            Include links to your program sponsors’ websites, and get them to put a link to yours on their sites.

            However you choose to advertise, be aware that it can eat up your entire budget pretty quickly.  Your funds may be better spent on prize money for a non-profit group collection, or on covering costs for collection and processing of the old phone books.

Recycling Facts for Publicity

            You can capture the interest of the general public, when promoting your recycling program, much better if you quote interesting recycling statistics.  Relate numbers to “real-world” visual images on which people can get a mental handle.  Here are some basic facts you can use when putting together your publicity, and some suggestions on how to use them.  You’ll notice that some of the figures conflict, so choose carefully the facts you use.

Solid Waste:

1999 figures for municipal solid waste (MSW):

Total tons of MSW for Mississippi:  2,264,000 National:  382,594,000

Tons recycled:  316,960 (14% of total) National:  126,256,020  (33%)

Tons incinerated:  452,800 (20% of total)         National:  26,781,580  (7%)

Tons landfilled:  1,901,760 (84% of total)         National:  229,556,400  (60%)

1999 figures for curbside recycling:

Mississippi had 15 curbside programs, serving 339,000 people, or 13% of the state’s population.  The national total for population served by curbside programs is 61%.

Source:  BioCycle magazine, November 2000, Annual State of Garbage in America report

The average American discards about 4.4 pounds of solid waste per day.

Source:  National Wildlife Federation website, 8/2000

Paper & Paper Waste:

Each day, Americans produce enough waste paper to fill the New Orleans Superdome.  Every day, Americans use over 67 million tons of paper, or 600 pounds per person.  The U.S. is the largest consumer of paper in the world.  Paper consumption has doubled since 1968.

Source:  earthsystems.org website 1/2000

Approximately 700,000 tons of recovered paper was used to make cellulose insulation in 1999, up from 550,000 tons in 1998.  Also in 1999, over 300,000 tons of fiber were used as compost for landscaping, agriculture, and home gardens.  In 1998, well over 150,000 tons of recovered paper were made into mulch.

Source:  American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA)'s Paper Recovery Progress Report, May 2000

Effects of Recycling:

Typical Waste Stream Characterization, With & Without Recycling:

Manufacturing one ton of paper from recycled fiber instead of virgin pulp:

·        prevents 60 pounds of air pollution from being released

·        spares 17 average trees

·        saves 100 gallons of gasoline

·        saves 3 cubic yards of landfill space

·        saves 4,200 kilowatt hours of electricity

·        saves 7,000 gallons of water.

Source:  University of Southern Mississippi report of Solid Waste Facts

Recycling one ton of paper saves:

·        4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity

·        9 barrels (380 gallons) of oil

·        54 million BTU’s of energy

·        3.3 cubic yards of landfill space

·        60 pounds of air pollutants

·        7,000 gallons of water

·        17 trees

Source:  University of Southern Mississippi report of Solid Waste Facts

Recycling newsprint saves 1.7 barrels of Texas crude oil per ton recycled.

Source:  calculation by the Council for Solid Waste Solutions, 4/91 based on an article in Resource Recycling by Roberta Stauffer, January/February 1989

One barrel (bbl) of crude oil = 42 gallons.  An average of 45.7% of every bbl of crude is refined into gasoline.  The average fuel consumption in 1996 was 531 gallons per car, for 21.3 miles to the gallon.

Source: the US Dept. of Energy, per phone call 4/14/98

Landfill compacted density = 1,200 lbs./cubic yard, regardless of type of material.  This equates to 0.6 tons/cubic yard.

Formula to figure landfill space saved by diversion:

            tons diverted     =          cubic yards of

            (0.6 tons/cu. yd.)                      landfill space saved

Source:  "Regulatory Financial Responsibility Cost Estimates for Alachua County Southwest Landfill", September, 1999, prepared by CH2M HILL

Note:  This would equate to 1.67 cubic yards per ton of material disposed in the landfill.  This conflicts with the older 3.3 cubic yards per ton figure quoted in other sources.

Annual consumption of electricity used in the average household in 1993:

·        for lighting:  940 kilowatt hours (kwh)

·        for cooking:  458 kwh

·        for clothes drying:  875 kwh

·        for dishwashing:  299 kwh

Source:  US Dept. of Energy web site, Residential Energy Consumption Survey, pulled 4/14/98 (www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs)

Average water usage by one person in the United States per day:  80 gallons.

Source:  City of Ocoee, Florida web site, www.ci.ocoee.fl.us, POWR (Protect Ocoee's Water Resources) section of page, 1/2001

Formula to figure number of gallons of water in an aquarium:

                        length x width x height

                                    231

Source:  Jacksonville, Florida aquarium dealer, September, 1997.

Each ton of paper recycled saves 3,700 pounds of lumber and 24,000 gallons of water.

Source:  OMNI magazine, September, 1989.

NOTE:  This water figure conflicts with others quoted on a previous page.

The evaporation from a single tree can produce the cooling effect of 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours per day.

Source:  USDA Pamphlet #FS-363

One average tree removes 13 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year.

Source:  Trees Atlanta

A tree can recycle 30-40 gallons of stormwater per day.

Source:  Jacksonville, Florida Mayor's Preservation Project handout, 3/99

An average pine tree is 10” in diameter and 40-50 feet tall. It takes 10 average trees to produce one cord of wood.

Source:  U.S. Forest Service in Atlanta, as quoted to Neal Clay of BellSouth, 1/1990.

One cord of wood will yield:

·        7,500,000 toothpicks

·        1 – 2 tons of paper (depending on the process)

·        61,370 #10 envelopes (standard business letter size)

·        4,384,000 commemorative-size postage stamps

·        30 Boston rockers

Source:  AF&PA’s website, www.afandpa.org, January, 2000.

An average of 726 pine trees can be planted on one acre of land.

Source: Duval County, Florida Forester, 9/18/1997.

Average amount of lumber used in one Habitat for Humanity house:  5 tons.

Source:  HabiJax purchaser, September, 1997.

Large Animal Weights:

African elephant:  14,432 pounds (7.2 tons)

White rhinoceros:  7,937 pounds (4 tons)

Hippopotamus:  5,512 pounds (2.8 tons)

Giraffe:  2,527 pounds (1.3 tons)

American bison:  2,205 pounds (1.1 tons)

Source:  Webster’s New World Pocket Book of Facts

Examples of How To Use This Data:

            People relate better to things when they can get a visual handle on them.  Large figures tend to swim around in the brain, but when they’re tied into something visual, people will remember that image.  Combine the resources saved figures with the comparisons listed above, do a little math, and draw mind pictures for the public in your press releases and program publicity.  (Your algebra teacher told you you’d need that information one day – well, this is it!)

            For example, instead of saying, “There are 500 tons of old phone books in circulation in our area”, you could say something like,  “The old phone books in circulation weigh as much as almost 70 elephants!  Help us round up those elephants!”  And suddenly you have a campaign slogan.

            Instead of saying, “Our community recycled 100 tons of old phone books", try saying, “The trees saved by our community’s phone book recycling program would fill a 3-acre forest!”.  Suddenly, the public visualizes a forest, and they can see the impact of the program.  Or, to put the same statistic another way, “The lumber saved by recycling these phone books would build 37 Habitat for Humanity houses!”  This presents an even stronger image to the community about what they have accomplished.  You can build similar picture-images with the other resource savings figures.

            Use these figures to add interest to your press releases and other publicity about the recycling program.  Reporters tend to be a bit jaded, and must make their news interesting to maintain readership or hold viewers.  They won’t run a story that’s the same-old, same-old.  But if you make your story fresh and interesting, it stands a much better chance of getting run, and of being seen – and remembered – by the public.

            Visit BellSouth’s recycling website, www.bellsouth.com/recycle, to get an Excel spreadsheet that will automatically calculate the resource savings in various categories when you plug in a figure for tons of old phone books recycled.

Appendix 1:    Potential End Users for Recovered Telephone Directories (OTD)

This is by no means a complete list, and contains information on file as of October, 2001.  Some contact information may be dated, and the contacts may have changed.  Due to consolidation and mill shutdowns, others may no longer exist.  Yet others were picked up from other sources, but never qualified as actually accepting OTD.  The notes with each listing will give you more information about what is known about each company.

Company:         Abitibi Consolidated, Recycling Division

Contact:           Larry Sisco

Address:           2350 North Belt East

                        Suite 600

                        Houston, TX 77032

Phone:              281-539-7075

Fax:                  281-539-7075

E-mail:              larry_sisco@abicon.com

Notes:              Member of Recycle Florida Today in 2001.

Company:         Alabama River Recycling

Address:           P.O. Box 100

                        Perdue Hill, AL 36470

Phone:              334-743-8424

Notes:              Contact obtained from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition’s list of paper brokers & industrial paper end users, April 2000.  They were listed as accepting ONP and OMG.

Company:         Allen Paper Processor

Contact:           Clarence Allen

Address:           708 Filmore Street

                        Yazoo City, MS 39194

Phone:              601-746-1120

Notes:              Contact obtained from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition’s list of paper brokers & industrial paper end users, April 2000.  They were listed as accepting OCC, SWL, MP & OM (office mix).

Company:         Alliance Forest Products

Contact:           John Bennett, Fiber Procurement Agent

Address:           17589 Plant Road

                        Coosa Pines, AL 35044

Phone:              256-378-2223

Fax:                  256-378-2181

E-mail:              john.bennett@alliance-forest.com

Notes:              Attended 2001 Recycle Florida Today conference.  Member of Alabama Recycling Coalition.

Company:         Alliance Forest Products

Contact:           Lisa White

Address:           4232 N. Mountain Road, NE

                        Marietta, GA 30066-2457

Phone:              770-971-4471

Fax:                  770-977-2663

E-mail:              lisa.white@alliance-forest.com

Notes:              Attended 2001 Carolina Recycling Association conference.  Member of Recycle Florida Today in 2001.  Also listed in Alabama Recycling Coalition membership directory for 2001-02 as being with Augusta Newsprint; see listing below for them.

Company:         Applewhite’s Inc.

Contact:     &nb