Penticton, B.C. book recycling pilot project ‘successful’ so far

"We’ve actually been able to divert 12,300 pounds of books from the landfill so it's been a really successful program.”

As books of any kind cannot be put in residential recycling carts, the City of Penticton, B.C., recently launched a pilot project to help properly recycle local books.

According to Penticton’s sustainability coordinator, Madison Poultney, the project has been successful so far.

“We found, after doing recycling audits throughout Penticton, that hardcover books were a large contributor to our contamination rates. We thought why not come up with an easy and accessible way for people to properly recycle their books, especially targeting the books that can’t necessarily be sold or donated,” said Poultney.

“It’s really awesome because we’ve seen a lot of interest in it — so far we’ve actually been able to divert 12,300 pounds of books from the landfill, so it’s been a really successful program.”

The city first launched the three-month pilot project for book recycling back in January.

The bins are located in the lobby of Penticton Public Library and people can drop off any damaged and outdated books that are not good for donation and cannot be recycled along with other paper products.

“It’s really awesome that we can provide the community with an easy way to dispose of … their old books,” said Poultney.

The books are then collected and brought to Planet Earth Recycling in West Kelowna, where the facility sorts the books into two categories: good books, and bad books.