IRVINE / COSTA MESA : Recycling Drive for Phone Books Begins

The new phone books are arriving, and it’s time to recycle the old ones. Pacific Bell will be delivering phone books in Irvine and Costa Mesa this week, so officials in those cities have organized drop-off sites for the old books.

Florine Reichle of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District said that 90 tons of outdated phone books were collected last year and that she would like to break the 100-ton mark this year.

Costa Mesa’s recycling drive runs through Dec. 14. Residents and businesses can deposit phone books in bins at City Hall, Costa Mesa Disposal, Lions Park, Orange Coast College Recycling Center and other sites.

A complete list of addresses where people can recycle the books will be delivered with the new phone books.

The instructions will be in Spanish and English. Costa Mesa residents may also call (714) 754-5600 for more instructions.

Irvine’s recycling program runs through Jan. 31. Irvine residents with curbside recycling can put the phone books in the newspaper bin.

Businesses can drop off their directories at either the Irvine Business Complex, at 17200 Jamboree Road, or Spectrum, at 15215 Barranca Parkway.

Anyone may call (714) 857-1170 for more information about the Irvine phone-book recycling plan.

Residents or businesses in either city who want to receive a greater or smaller number of phone books can call Pacific Bell at (800) 848-8000.