Yearly Phone Book Recycling Drive Starts

Beginning this month, Ventura County residents will be able to recycle outdated or extra telephone books as part of a yearly collection drive.

Drop-off points in every city in the county have been set up to operate in conjunction with existing curbside recycling for most homeowners.

“We set up drop-off points so businesses and residents of multifamily complexes could also participate,” said David Goldstein, spokesman for the Ventura County Solid Waste Management Department.

Last year, the county collected more than 300 tons of recycled phone books, but recovered little of the cost for the hauling and processing involved, county officials said.

This year, for the first time in the four-year life of the recycling program, county officials found a domestic buyer to recycle the phone books. A mill in Washington state will pay the county $40 for each ton of phone books, allowing the county to recover more of the costs incurred. For information on the location of phone book drop-off points, call the countywide recycling hot line at 654-3935.