ASHEVILLE – The City of Asheville’s first AT&T Project ReDirectory Telephone Book Recycling Drive was a big success, with 9,020 pounds of telephone directories collected through the local recreation center recycling challenge.
Barry Lawson, president of Curbside Management, Inc., said that’s a total of 4,864 phone books.
Recycled phone books are made into useful products such as animal bedding, insulation, cereal boxes, roofing shingles, new phone books and more.
The drive was a partnership between the City of Asheville, Curbside Management and AT&T. The city recreation center that collected the most directories was Harvest House, has received a $500 award incentive from Curbside Management and AT&T.
Harvest House collected 3,140 pounds of directories. The center will use the award to further support their community programs and projects, which offer activities for people of all ages. Harvest House features pool tables, a loaning library, computer, and large and small multipurpose rooms. Several classrooms feature weaving, ceramics and a full-service woodshop.
Harvest House’s winning strategies included placing ads on Craigslist, contacting area hotels to recycle their outdated directories and program participants going door to door in their neighborhoods.
Their staff and program participants’ creativity, time and efforts helped to secure their win, according to city staff.
To find a list of city recreation centers, visit:
http://www.ashevillenc.gov/departments/ParksRCA.