The City of Kamloops has launched a new book recycling program that will aims keep old and hard-to-recycle books out of the landfill.
Solid Waste Services Analyst Megan Graham says the City has partnered with Planet Earth Recycling, which specializes in book recycling.
She says people can drop off their old books to be recycled at either the Tournament Capital Centre or the North Kamloops Library.
“They will pick up the books from those locations. They take them back to their warehouse in the Okanagan where they then sort through the books,” Graham said.
“They will first try to donate those or resell the ones that they can, and then any remaining books they will process through their book cutting machine where it will cut off the spine so the pages and the spine can be easily separated and properly recycled.”
Graham says the new program is needed as books are not accepted under the City’s curbside and multi-family recycling program.
“They pose a lot of challenges at recycling facilities with one the spines are glued to the books,” she said. “Lots of facilities don’t have the capabilities to properly separate those. And through Recycle BC, they are considered durable goods so they are intended to read more than once versus a magazine or a flyer.”
“This program is intended more for those difficult books to recycle and the one that maybe a used book store wouldn’t have any need for or desire for. So used and outdated text books or old encyclopedias or if you have an abundance of children’s books or manuals, even spiral bound notebooks. Those kind of ones.”
Graham says people hoping to recycle books at the TCC should look for a new bright yellow cart in the main lobby. At the North Kamloops Library, attendants will be accepting books that people want to recycle. Both locations are indoors, with Graham noting that people can only drop things off when the facilities are open.
“By offering this new service, we are able to provide residents two easy and convenient drop off locations to know that their books are being properly recycled,” Graham said.
For more about the City of Kamloops book recycling program, go here.
