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Penticton recycling program redirects 50,000 pounds of damaged books

Project encourages residents to avoid placing out-of-date books in residential bins
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Penticton is providing people with a convenient way to recycle their damaged and out-of-date books at the Penticton Library. (Photo- City of Penticton/Facebook)

The start of a Penticton-based recycling program has led to the collection of more than 50,000 pounds of books within a span of almost one year.

Damaged, out-of-date books have been dropped into specialty bins since January, to prevent such items from being placed in residential recycling carts.

The city says it is on track to collect about 51,000 pounds of books by the end of the year.

Specialty bins can be found at the Penticton Public Library.

The city’s program started after it was found that damaged books were contaminating residential bins.

Recycle BC does not accept hardcover and paperback books.

The city says books inside the specialty bins will be picked up and taken to a processing centre, where the bindings are cut off and the paper is recycled.

An eight-question survey has been made available for residents to provide the city feedback on how the program can improve.

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About the Author: Logan Lockhart

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