Recycling

Phone Book Recycling

Since 1993, the recycling committee and FP&M have coordinated an annual phone book recycling drive collecting university, Ames, and Des Moines directories.

Each year, our efforts begin by encouraging departments to order only the quantity of phone books needed. We then set a collection date in December that allows departments adequate time to distribute new and collect the old directories. We send reminders of the program and collection date to the campus community. We also encourage building recycling volunteers, departmental telephone coordinators, and building supervisors to coordinate phone book recycling with their building custodial staff.

The collected phone books go to International Paper in Des Moines. This recycling effort saves the university refuse service costs. Each ton recycled represents a diverted savings of $85, the current university disposal fee at the Ames Resource Recovery Plant.

Each year the volume of phone books recycled from campus increases, from under three tons the first year to 16 tons in 2008. Since 1994 we have recycled nearly 148 tons of phone books. Over 2,500 trees, over 1 million gallons of water, 8,880 lbs of air pollution, and more than 606,808 kilowatt hours of energy have been saved by people recycling their phone books through the ISU recycling efforts.