Let's Keep the South Nice and Clean, OK?

I wish there was an opt-out list (which honestly, I haven't looked in to... there may actually be).

Anyways, they are just a massive waste of paper, ink, time, etc. when I can go online and have a phone number quicker.

The fact that there are actually very few places for residents to easily recycle them, makes me irate because that means it just won't happen and they'll end up in the dumpster... land-fill bound.

For those of you who will take the extra effort (and I hope you do!) to put them through to at least the last useful function they have (pet bedding and insulation, according to the following article), here's the skinny on drop-offs, etc.:

How to dump old (or new) phone books
Curbside recycling may refuse them
Wade Rawlins, Staff Writer New phone books seem to multiply in the driveway this time of year. Now, as a fresh crop is being delivered, the season to recycle has arrived.

But not everyone can throw the old books in their curbside recycling bin. It depends on your community's contract with its recycling processor. Throughout Durham and Orange counties, residents can chuck the books in their household bins. But not in Raleigh or Cary.

That's because taking phone books in the curbside bins usually results in less revenue from a town's recycling processor, according to Linda Leighton, waste reduction specialist with the City of Raleigh. The books have to be picked out of the bins by hand so they don't mix with other paper goods. And they're hardly worth the trouble.

"Phone books are considered contamination in the paper waste stream," Leighton said, because they're produced with paper that has already been recycled numerous times. As a result, she said, their last best use is as pet bedding or insulation.WHERE TO TOSS IN RALEIGH, WAKE
Raleigh and Wake County's annual phone book recycling drive continues through May 9. That coincides with the delivery dates of new phone books.

Wake County residents can also recycle phone books year-round at two places: North Wake Multi-Material Recycling Center, on 9016 Deponie Drive in Raleigh; and South Wake Multi-material Recycling Facility, at 6300 Old Smithfield Road in Apex.

In Wake County, locations open through May 9 include:
* East Millbrook Middle School, 3801 Spring Forest Road
* Jaycee Park, 2405 Wade Ave.
* Leesville Road Elementary School, 8401 Leesville Road
* N.C. Department of Administration, 116 W. Jones St.
* Wake County Office Park, 4011 Carya Drive (off Poole Road)
* West Millbrook Middle School, 8115 Strickland Road
* Cary Elementary School, 400 Kildaire Farm Road, Cary
* Garner High School, 2101 Spring Drive, Garner

Find a complete list of Wake County drop-off locations, go to:
http://www.wakegov.com/recycling/residents/recycle/telephonebook.htm