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:           Roger Applewhite

Address:           4205 Beasley Road

                        Gautier, MS 39553

Phone:              228-497-4130

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

Company:         Atlas Paper Mills

Contact:           Kilsy Vargas

Address:           1810 Weltin Street

                        Orlando, FL 32803

Phone:              407-895-1786

Fax:                  407-895-6035

E-mail:              akvargas@bellsouth.net

Notes:              Attended Recycle Florida Today 2001 conference.

Company:         Atlas Roofing

Contact:           Joe Ogg

Address:           2322 Valley Road

                        Meridian, MS 39307

Phone:              601-483-7111

Fax:                  601-483-7344

Notes:              Contact obtained from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition’s list of paper brokers & industrial paper end users, April 2000.  They accept all types of paper except ONP.  They have accepted some of BellSouth’s OTD in past years.

Company:         Augusta Newsprint Company

Contacts:          Nelson Ramsbotham                 Lisa White

Addresses:       P.O. Box 1647                         4232 North Mountain Road

                        Augusta, GA 30903-1647                    Marietta, GA 30066

Phones:            706-798-3440                                     770-971-4471

Faxes:              706-790-9641                                     770-973-8786

E-mail:              nramsbot@augustanewsprint.com

Notes:              Members of Recycle Florida Today & Alabama Recycling Coalition.  Most newsprint manufacturers cannot use OTD in their mills because of the amount of ink in the product.  Lisa White is also in the ARC membership directory with Alliance Forest Products; see listing above for them.

Company:         Austell Box Board

Contact:           David Macko, Fiber Procurement

Address:           P.O. Box 157

                        Austell, GA 30001

Phone:              770-948-3100

Notes:              This company used to accept some of BellSouth’s OTD.  David attended the 2002 Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         Boise Cascade Corporation

Contact:           Tom Kanooth

Address:           307 West Industrial Road

                        Jackson, AL 36545

Phone:              360-690-7066

Fax:                  360-690-7034

E-mail:              Tom_Kanooth@bc.com

Notes:              Contact obtained from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition’s list of paper brokers & industrial paper end users, April 2000.  Mixed paper is one of the types they accept.

Company:         Caraustar – Recovered Fiber Group

Contact:           Greg Cottrell

Address:           531 Roselane Street

                        Suite 650

                        Atlanta, GA 30060

Phone:              770-745-3760

Fax:                  770-732-3390

E-mail:              gcottrell@caraustar.com

Notes:              Contact obtained from the Mississippi Recycling Coalition’s list of paper brokers & industrial paper end users, April 2000.  They accept all types of paper except OMG.

Company:         Caraustar – Recovered Fiber Group

Contact:           Nancy Womack, Buyer/Developer

Address:           Doraville Recycling Plant

                        4069 Winters Chapel Road

                        Doraville, GA 30360

Phone:              770-451-1334

Fax:                  770-451-2045

E-mail:              nancywomack@caraustar.com

Website:           www.caraustar.com

Notes:              They were interested in accepting some of BellSouth’s OTD in the year 2000.

Company:         Cargill Fertilizer, Inc.

Contact:           Mike Chanen

Address:           3900 Peeples Road

                        Ft. Meade, FL 33841

Phone:              863-428-4224

Fax:                  863-285-6306

Notes:              Attended 2001 Recycle Florida Today conference.

Company:         Cascades Industries, Inc.

Contact:           Serge Leroux, General Manager

Address:           P.O. Box 578

                        Rockingham, NC 28379

Street Add:       805 Midway Road

                        Rockingham, NC 28380

Phone:              770-448-3384 (sales office)

Phone:              910-895-4033

Fax:                  910-895-9887

Website:           www.perkins.ca

Notes:              Contact obtained from NC DPPEA brochure on North Carolina manufacturers of recycled products.  They make 100% recycled-content bath & facial tissue from office mixed paper and coated book paper.  Also see next listing for same company & phone, but different address & products.

Company:         Cascades Molded Pulp

Contact:           James Horne, Superintendent

Address:           P.O. Box 609

                        Rockingham, NC 28380

Street Add:       Cascades Drive

                        Rockingham, NC 28380

Phone:              910-895-4033

Fax:                  910-895-9887

Notes:              Contact obtained from NC DPPEA brochure of North Carolina manufacturers of recycled products.  They make 100% and 95% recycled-content molded pulp trays from OCC and ONP.  Also see above listing for same company & phone, but different address & products.

Company:         Cascades Tissue Group

Contact:           David Bergelin, Corporate Buyer

Address:           648 Watson Street

                        Ripon, WI 54971

Phone:              920-748-7492

Fax:                  920-748-7493

Notes:              Attended 2002 Southeast Recycling Conference.  Tissue is one of the products that can be made from OTD.

Company:         CDS Manufacturing, Inc.

Contacts:          Clayton H. Sembler, President

Mike Mall, Technical Manager

Address:           441 S. Virginia Street

                        Quincy, FL 32311

Phone:              850-875-4651

Fax:                  850-875-4660

E-mail:              cdsmfg@earthlink.net

Notes:              They manufacture cast stone products of which one of the components is recycled paper.  When asked if they could use OTD for that (June, 2001), they were willing to try a load to see how they would work.

Company:         Cell Pak Inc.

Contact:           Jeron Witt, President

Address:           P.O. Box 1023

                        Decatur, AL 35602

Phone:              256-350-3311

Fax:                  256-350-0308

E-mail:              Cellpak@hiwayy.net

Notes:              Contact obtained from Mississippi Recycling Coalition directory of paper brokers & end-users, April 2000.  They are listed as accepting only ONP.  Also a member of the Alabama Recycling Coalition.

Company:         Celotex

Contact:           Brad Williams

Address:           P.O. Box 4099 West Station

                        Meridian, MS 39304

Phone:              601-693-0254

Fax:                  601-693-0258

Notes:              Contact obtained from Mississippi Recycling Coalition directory of paper brokers & end-users, April 2000.  They are listed as accepting only ONP.

Company:         Chattanooga Paperboard

Contact:           Rena Gribble, Purchasing

Address:           2100 Rossville Ave.

                        Chattanooga, TN 37408

Phone:              423-267-3801

Fax:                  423-752-5606

Notes:              Attended the 2002 Southeast Recycling Conference.  This company has accepted some of BellSouth’s OTD in the past.

Company:         Columbus Scrap Metal

Address:           119 Brickyard Road

                        Columbus, MS 39701

Phone:              662-328-8176

Notes:              Contact obtained from Mississippi Recycling Coalition directory of paper brokers & end-users, April 2000.  They accept mixed paper, ONP & several other types of paper.

Company:         Compost Turf Farms

Address:           P.O. Box 17084

                        Hattiesburg, MS 39401

Phone:              601-544-4302

Notes:              Listed in the Mississippi DEQ’s Recycling Handbook 10/2000.  Accepts wood waste, bark, yard waste (untreated, unpainted, uncontaminated wood waste), tires & rubber for recycling.

Company:         Earthwise Recycling

Contact:           Joe Borges

Address:           Houston, TX

Phone:              254-918-5368

Notes:              Called in August of 2001 to inquire about OTD available in BellSouth’s region.  They make cattle bedding & compost, and also have a partnership doing the same in Florida.

Company:         Enron, Québec mill

Contact:           Peter Ryan, General Manager

Address:           P.O. Box 1487

                        Québec, Québec, Canada

Street Add:       10 Boulevard des Capucins

                        Québec, PC, Canada

Phone:              418-525-2940

Notes:              This former Daishowa mill is one of BellSouth’s suppliers for directory paper.  They were willing to pay a fairly high price for OTD, but would not cover shipping costs, so are likely too expensive to ship to from the southeast.  They prefer the material bulk-loaded on trailers, not baled.

Company:         EnviroRecycling Services LLC

Contact:           Kevin Kelly, General Manager

Address:           1987 US Highway 84

                        Monticello, MS 39654

Phone:              334-887-5005

Fax:                  334-887-5077

Website:           www.envirorecycling.com

Notes:              Listed in North Carolina DENR-DPPEA’s Directory of Markets for Recyclables, September, 1999, as accepting hard-cover books.  They are a broker.  Prefer boxed, 4 skid minimum.  Services entire U.S.

Company:         Everglades Paper, Inc.

Contacts:          Beulah Meyers, President

                        Roberto Prieto, Vice-President

Address:           1890 S. Ocean Drive, #170E

                        Hallandale, FL 33009

Phone:              954-456-7463

Fax:                  954-456-3964

Notes:              Attended 2001 Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         Federal International Inc.

Contact:           Tonya Healea, Recycled Paper Brokerage

Address:           7935 Clayton Road

                        St. Louis, MO 63117-1369

Phone:              314-721-3377, ext. 122

Fax:                  314-721-2007

Notes:              Called BellSouth in April of 1999 to inquire about OTD available in our area.

Company:         Federal Waste Paper Company

Contact:           George Jones, Owner

Address:           P.O. Box 4208

                        Burlington, NC 27215-4208

Street Add:       1763 W. Webb Avenue

                        Burlington, NC 27215

Phone:              336-228-0692

Fax:                  336-228-0820

Notes:              Listed in North Carolina DENR-DPPEA’s Directory of Markets for Recyclables, September, 1999, as accepting soft-cover books.

Company:         Fibermasters, Inc.

Contact:           Jimmy Ramey

Address:           P.O. Box 1712

                        Monroe, LA 71210

Street Add:       2500 Jackson Street

                        Monroe, LA

Phone:              800-854-1907

Phone 2:           318-323-1337

Fax:                  318-323-1338

Notes:              Contact obtained from Mississippi Recycling Coalition directory of paper brokers & end-users, April 2000 as only accepting ONP.  This company has accepted some of BellSouth’s OTD in the past.

Company:         Fibrex Group, The

Contact:           Ruben Leenders

Address:           3734 Cook Blvd.

                        Chesapeake, VA 23323-1692

Phone:              757-487-5744

                        757-487-5876

Notes:              Attended 2001 Carolina Recycling Association conference.

Company:         Great Northern Paper, Inc.

Contact:           Jim Deabay

Address:           1025 Central Street

                        Millinocket, ME 04462

Phone:              207-723-2194

Fax:                  207-723-2102

E-mail:              deabayjl@Gnpaper.com

Notes:              This is one of BellSouth’s suppliers for directory paper.  They use some OTD to make the paper, but the mill’s Maine location generally makes it too expensive to ship the material there from the southeast.

Company:         GreenFiber (U.S. GreenFiber LLC)

Contact:           Tom Eason, Purchasing Director

Address:           809 W. Hill Street

                        Charlotte, NC 28272

Phone:              204-379-0654

Fax:                  204-379-0685

Website:           www.greenstone.com

Notes:              This manufacturer of cellulose insulation has southeastern plants in Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC and Tampa, FL.  They have accepted a lot of BellSouth’s OTD in the past, but will not accept wet loads of books.  Ned Mooney is the contact for the Atlanta facility; his number is 770-819-6900.

Company:         Holnam

Contact:           Jim Wright, Alternate Fuels Procurement

Address:           P.O. Box 649

                        Theodore, AL 36590

Phone:              334-443-1246

Notes:              Called BellSouth with interest in acquiring some of our OTD to burn for fuel in their cement plant.  Was not interested in paying for the books, but for communited located near their plant who can’t find an alternative end market, sending the books to him may be cheaper than landfilling them.  If burned for fuel, they would not, however, qualify for recycling credit in most programs.

Company:         Atlanta Intercel (International Cellulose)

Contacts:          Dave Gulick (pronounced JOO-lick), Vice President

                        also Marilyn Welch or Wanda Vickery in Dave’s office

Address:           1240 Metropolitan Parkway

                        Atlanta, GA 30310

Phone:              404-758-4581

Fax:                  404-758-8765

E-mail:              dgulick@intercelabc.com

Notes:              Atlanta Intercel handled the logistics of transporting OTD from communities to end markets for BellSouth from mid-2000 through 2001.  They are paper brokers, and are willing to help communities on an individual basis to move the paper to end markets.  Before calling them, have information ready on the tonnage of books you plan to recover, your needs as far as transportation & trailers, and where the books will be stored prior to shipment (e.g., is it a covered facility, or will the books possibly be wet?).  This will minimze the time needed to put together a plan for your community.

Company:         Jackon Paper Manufacturing

Contact:           Don Arrington

Address:           P.O. Box 667

                        Sylva, NC 28779-0667

Phone:              828-586-5534

Fax:                  828-631-0359

Notes:              Attended 2001 Carolina Recycling Association conference.

Company:         Kimberly-Clark

Contacts:          George Hizny, Purchasing Manager, Owensboro, KY

                        Mike Milak, Recovered Fiber, Roswell, GA

                        Alan R. Smith, Buyer, Loudon, TN

Addresses:       601 Innovation Way                 1400 Holcomb Bridge Rd         5600 Kimberly Way

                        Owensboro, KY 42301           Roswell, GA 30076-2199        Loudon, TN 37774

Phones:            270-764-4515                         678-352-6404                         423-988-7064

Faxes:                                                              678-352-6982                         423-988-0512

Notes:              Attended 2001 & 2002 Southeast Recycling Conferences.

Company:         Laurel Hill Paper Co.

Contact:           Tammy Lampley

Address:           P.O. Box 150

                        Cordova, NC 28330

Street Add:       126 First Street

                        Cordova, NC 28330

Phone:              910-997-4526

Fax:                  910-895-0738

E-mail:              tlampley@hotmail.com

Notes:              Listed in North Carolina DPPEA brochure of N.C. manufacturers of recycled products, fall, 1999.  They make 35% recycled-content toilet paper & toweling from mixed paper.  The company buys direct.

Company:         New Horizon Enterprises

Contact:           Rangarajan Yamunachari

Address:           5902 Memorial Highway, #1012

                        Tampa, FL 33615

Phone:              813-273-4858

Fax:                  813-886-4124

E-mail:              ranga.y@rocketmail.com

Notes:              Contacted BellSouth via letter in July of 1999; was interested in purchasing OTD for export to India.  The letter stated that they follow standard business practice in the USA (like opening of letter of credit in a US bank in the US, payment in US dollars, relase of payment upon production of shipping document, etc.)  They require about 1,000 metric tonnes per month of OTD.

Company:         The Newark Group, Recycled Fibers Division

Locations:         Southeastern Regional Office & Plant, 1750 9^th St.,
Bldg. 44/Brookley Complex, Mobile, AL

                        Shreveport Plant, Shreveport, LA

                        Tallahassee Plant, Tallahassee, FL

Phone:  800-810-5135 (Toll-Free)

334-432-1000 (Mobile)

                        318-227-1088 (Shreveport)

                        850-575-3906 (Tallahassee)

Fax:                  251-432-4314 (Mobile)

Website:           www.newarkgroup.com

Notes:              According to the company’s brochure, they manufacture boxboard from old newspapers, and have been in business for over 100 years. The company purchases and sells over 2.5 million tons of recovered paper annually.

Company:         Ngai Sheung Enterprises Co.

Contact:           Johnnie Chan

Address:           Room 16A, Block 10

                        1 Tin Wu Road

                        Tin Shui Wai, N.T.,

                        Hong Kong

Phone:              852-2447-4120

Fax:                  852-2447-4244

E-mail:              paperbus@netvigator.com

Notes:              Sent a fax to BellSouth in March of 2000 to inqiure about importing OTD to China for recycling.

Company:         Paper Trading International Inc.

Contact:           Tim Magarahan, President

Address:           1255 Lynnfield Rd.

                        Suite 281

                        Memphis, TN 38119

Phone:              901-821-0901

Fax:                  901-821-0903

Notes:              Attended 2001 Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         RGS, Inc.

Contact:           David Smith

Address:           P.O. Box 2461

                        Columbia, SC 29202

Phone:              803-754-2400

Notes:              Contacted the Southeastern Waste Exchange in July of 1999 to inquire about BellSouth’s OTD.

Company:         Rock-Tenn Recycling

Contact:           Edward Bales, Jr., Fiber Procurement

Address:           1323 Proctor Street

                        Knoxville, TN 37921

Phone:              865-522-6129

Fax:                  865-522-8996

Notes:              Attended the 2002 Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         Shred-It North Carolina

Contacts:          Ralph J. O’Donnell

                        Sean G. O’Donnell

Address:           P.O. Box 28

                        Alamance, NC 27201-0028

Phone:              336-854-0005

Fax:                  336-854-8229

Notes:              Located in Guilford County, NC.  Primarily shreds office paper & confidential materials, but is listed in the NC DENR-DPPEA’s Directory of Markets for Recyclables (September, 1999) as accepting soft-cover books.

Company:         Soil Solutions, Inc.

Contact:           Jay King

Address:           1703 Vargrave St.

                        Winston-Salem, NC 27107

Phone:              919-427-2598

Fax:                  336-725-6244

Notes:              Attended 2001 Carolina Recycling Association conference.

Company:         Sonoco Products Co.

Contacts:          Ronnie L. Grant, Mgr.-Acct. Devel. & Admin., Paper Division

                        Butch McKenzie, Manager-Sales/Brokerage

                        Robin Sweatman, Manager-Material Supply

Address:           P.O. Box 160

                        Hartsville, SC 29550

Street Add:       Mail Code J23

                        North Second Street

                        Hartsville, SC 29550

Phones:            Ronnie:  803-383-7665

                        Butch:  803-383-3418

                        Robin:  757-465-7422

Voicemail:        Ronnie:  888-222-1501, #7665

Faxes:              Ronnie:  803-383-3445

                        Butch:  803-339-6575

                        Robin:  757-465-5848

Website:           www.sonoco.com

Notes:              Located in Darlington County, SC.  Manufacturer of tubes, cores & packaging material.  Accepts OTD from BellSouth, and will take loads of wet books.

Company:         Timber Energy Resources, Inc.

Contact:           Howard Davis

Address:           P.O. Box 199

                        Telogia, FL 32360

Phone:              850-379-8341, ext. 25

Notes:              Contacted BellSouth in December of 1997 to inquire about obtaining some OTD.  Plant is located about 35 miles west of Tallahassee, and makes fuel pellets for use in power plants.  Because they would make the books into pellets instead of burning them directly, they would qualify as having been recycled.  The 1” square pellets are a biomass fuel made of 70% wood waste, 15% paper and some peanut hulls.  The plant uses 800-1,000 tons per week and charges $5 a ton plus freight to accept OTD.  The books must be dry and free of metal.  They would prefer the books be baled, but will accept them in Gaylord boxes.  While they receive most in 20-25-ton tractor-trailer loads, they also have a rail site.  Can accept the books loose-loaded from a rolloff.  For communities located close to this site who can’t find an alternative end market, paying the $5 a ton may be less expensive than landfilling books.

Company:         U.S. Gypsum, Jackonville plant

Contacts:          David Hester, Paper Buyer       Bill Lowly, Plant Manager

Address:           P.O. Box 9579

                        Jacksonville, FL 32208

Street Add:       6825 Evergreen Avenue

                        Jacksonville, FL 32208

Phone:              904-768-2501, ext. 291 (David)          ext. 270 (Bill)

Fax:                  904-764-2778

Notes:              This plant has accepted BellSouth’s OTD for the Jacksonville recycling program since its inception in 1989.

Company:         Union Gypsum, Inc.

Contact:           Steve Davis

Address:           7323 Old Gold Mine Road

                        Marshville, NC 28103

Phone:              704-624-2077

Fax:                  704-624-2806

Notes:              Attended 2001 Carolina Recycling Association conference.

Company:         Visy Recycling

Contact:           Kevin Bailey

Address:           1800-A Sarasota Pkwy.

                        Conyers, GA 33013

Phone:              800-567-0103

                        770-602-1190

Fax:                  770-602-1189

E-mail:  occbuyer@aol.com

Notes:              Although the e-mail address sounds like they buy only corrugated, they do handle phone books.  Member of Recycle Florida Today, and exhibitor at the Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Contact:           Dick Engle, Area Manager

Address:           5232 Hovis Road

                        Charlotte, NC 28208

Phone:              704-399-6875

Fax:                  704-393-2651

Notes:              Information obtained from Weyerhaeuser brochure 3/2001.  This is a recycling collection center and recycling sales office.  They are also listed in the North Carolina DENR-DPPEA’s Directory of Markets for Recyclables (September 1999).

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Address:           211 Carrier Blvd.

                        Richland, MS 39218

Phone:              601-932-1422

Fax:                  601-932-2327

Notes:              Information obtained from Weyerhaeuser brochure 3/2001.  This is a packaging plant.

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Address:           1070 County Line Rd.

                        Lakeland, FL 33815

Phone:              863-682-2828

Fax:                  863-683-5925

Notes:              Information obtained from Weyerhaeuser brochure 3/2001.  This is a sheet feeder plant.

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Contact:           Larry Pratt, Brokerage Manager, Recycling-SE

Address:           234 Titan Drive

                        Memphis, TN 38109

Phone:              901-396-5425

Mobile: 901-233-1000

Fax:                  901-396-0268

Notes:              Was interested in OTD to include in mixed paper in August, 2000.  Said he may have markets for it.

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Address:           6507 Westport Avenue

                        Shreveport, LA

Phone:              318-686-0013

Fax:                  318-686-0017

Notes:              Information obtained from Weyerhaeuser brochure 3/2001.  This is a sheet plant.

Company:         Weyerhaeuser

Address:           6706 53^rd Street

                        Tampa, FL 33610

Phone:              813-621-3011

Fax:                  813-621-7725

Notes:              Information obtained from Weyerhaeuser brochure 3/2001.  This is a packaging plant.

Company:         Willamette Industries, Inc.

Contact:           Clark Averett, Purchasing/Fiber Buyer

Address:           P.O. Box 377

                        Campti, LA 71411

Phone:              318-476-3392

Fax:                  318-476-2525

Notes:              Attended 2002 Southeast Recycling Conference.

Company:         World Wide Recycling-Tissue Div.

Contact:           Jose Luis Flores

Address:           3280 NW 29^th Street

                        Miami, FL 33142

Phone:              305-688-8775

Fax:                  305-635-6830

Appendix 3:

Recovery for First-Year Phone Book Recycling Programs

Ranked from Lowest to Highest Circulation Tonnage

These figures may help you to predict your community's recovery for a phone book recycling program.  Here, you see the wide range of results in first-year programs across the south.  A number of factors - time of year of delivery, collection methods, paper market conditions at the time - affect the tons recovered in an initial directory recycling program.  The average recovery is 21% of the tons in circulation.

Appendix 4:

Tips on Designing a Phone Book Recycling Contest

These tips will help you design a safe and successful program
for schools and/or non-profit groups.

·        Have the schools or non-profit groups register in advance with you so you will have some idea how many will be participating.  Set a deadline for them to do so.  You can make this deadline fairly late in the collection, but make it before the very end.

·        To hold down costs or keep them predictable, you may want to limit the number of groups who may register to participate in the contest.

·        Restrict the geographical area in which the groups may be located; you don’t want to be paying groups from an adjacent county if they’re not located in the delivery area for your local directory!

·        Make sure the groups are bona fide non-profits; you may want to ask them to fill out an IRS form W-9 to verify this.

·        Set a goal for your program’s recovery; this gives the groups something to shoot for.  Don’t be afraid to set it high – the biggest mistake is to set it too low.

·        Set a minimum qualifier for the groups to collect in order to qualify for prizes.  Make sure it’s high enough that you don’t wind up with a lot of groups who collect only the minimum amount to get a payoff.  It’s especially important to set this high if you will be limiting the number of groups who may participate.

·        Specify that only outdated phone books may be counted toward the groups’ totals.  Publishers are unhappy when recycling programs remove their brand-new, unused directories from circulation.  If groups collect any new issues, contact the publisher to see about returning them for re-use during the year; they need books for delivery to new residents and businesses moving into the area.

·        Make sure the groups know to keep the collected directories clean and dry.  They should not put plastic bags, tape or strings into the load of books, because these items contaminate the phone books.

·        When deciding on how to reward the groups for participation, you’ll need to take a close look at your budget to see what you can afford.  The simplest way is just to offer a set prize amount for the top group, or the top three groups, in overall books or pounds collected.  You may also want to add special prizes for the oldest directory, or the farthest-away one brought in.  Other communities opt for the x-cents-per-pound approach, where every group that collects at least the minimum qualifying amount of books gets a per-pound (or per-book) amount for collecting them.  Be careful with this approach, however, as some groups’ enthusiasm for fund-raising may exceed your budget.

·        Make sure you promote the contest primarily as a community service project and a way to help the environment.  The fund-raising part gets the groups interested, but if they see the project as nothing more than a fund-raiser, you have lost a great opportunity for public education about recycling.  Provide each participating group with a package of information similar to the enclosed school package.  Make sure you also give them a copy of the safety tips included in the educational material on this website.

·        Give your participating groups leads on where to find large quantities of old phone books.  The easiest way is if the directory publisher can provide you with a list of their customers who receive large numbers of books.  If such a list is unavailable, however, you can make your own list.  Check the yellow pages under headings like Hotels, Motels, Hospitals, and Apartments.  Think of the large employers in the area; you may be able to get a list from your local Chamber of Commerce.  If they have a lot of employees, they have a lot of phones, and hence, a lot of phone books.  If you don’t have the time to make a list, give the groups some suggestions and let them do the thinking!

·        Promote the collection to your area’s businesses.  You may want to also give them the opportunity to call and register with you if they’d like to be matched with a group who will come out and get their old directories.  If you make them aware of the program, they won’t throw away their old books before a group can get to them.

·        Unless you are very lucky, you will need to make sure the groups understand that they will be transporting their own collected books to the processor’s facility.  Occasionally, a very understanding hauler who has a big contract with a school district will agree to place containers at each school and service those during the contest.  This is the exception rather than the rule, however.  Most haulers don’t have that many extra containers to place, and won’t be willing to incur the cost for extra trips to service those containers.

·        Check with your recycler/processor to see whether it is more convenient for them to have the groups bring in the books on a continual basis, or all at one time.  Advantages of the continual basis include less storage space needed by the participating groups, and no big crowd at the MRF at one time.  The advantage of the one-day approach is that you can make it into a big event, with possible media coverage and lots of good photo opps.

·        Make the groups responsible for their own record-keeping.  Provide them with a tally sheet similar to the enclosed example.  Have someone sign the sheet to verify its accuracy; people are less likely to fudge on the figures if their signature is on the paper!  This also provides you with a written record and a responsible party in the event that any fraud is detected.

Provide the groups with a phone number they can call if any questions arise during their collection.  This may be the county recycling coordinator’s number, or that of a non-profit group who’s serving as the contest organizer (like the local Keep America Beautiful affiliate, for example).

Appendix 5:

SCHOOL

Sample School Summary Sheet for (year) (Area) Old Phone Book Collection Contest

(Please Print Legibly)

School Name:                                                                                                                          

School Contact Person:                                                                         Phone:                                    

Principal's Signature:                                                                                                                

                                                            (Certifies that these figures are accurate)

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