The City will kick off this year's Knox County school phone book recycling effort Monday, December 13, at 10:00 a.m. at the City County Building 5th floor Atrium.

The City will recognize the two winners of the recent phone book recycling poster contest, which was open to elementary and middle school students in Knox County Schools.

The poster competition is aimed at promoting awareness among students of the importance of recycling and both winners receive $50 cash prizes while their teachers receive $150 awards for use in the classroom.

"The poster contest is a great way to raise awareness among students about the importance of lessening the volume of paper going into our landfills by recycling it into new paper products that people can use," said Mayor Haslam. "At the same time this contest also helps increase the number of books that are recycled. So it's a wonderful effort and we're pleased to be part of it."

The school system is also involved in an ongoing contest to see which schools can collect the most phone books for recycling. Cash prizes are awarded to the schools that collect the most phone books for recycling. The last day for books to be collected by the schools is January 28, 2011.

New phone books have already started arriving at residences and businesses and AT&T begins distributing its books later this month.

Last year, the Knox County Schools collected more than 118 tons of phone books that were sent for recycling - instead of taking up space in landfills.

According to John Homa, Solid Waste Project Manager for the City of Knoxville, recycling those books saved 197 cubic yards of landfill space, 2,006 trees from having to be planted or cut for paper products, and saved 354 barrels of oil, or 6,795 gallons of gasoline.

Individuals can drop off all old phone books at schools, though they should check with the school first to see if it is participating in the effort.

Individuals and businesses can also make arrangements to directly deliver large numbers of books, on behalf of particular schools, to the recycling company Rock-Tenn Recycling, 1323 Proctor, off of Western Avenue. They need to inform the schools of the number of books they drop off so those schools can credit that number to their total.

Rock-Tenn Recycling is open M - F from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. If possible, encourage businesses to call ahead before bringing their books, 522-6129.

Phone books can also be dropped off by the public at the following recycling centers throughout the city in the mixed paper bins.

Kroger Stores:
4440 Western Avenue at Clinton
4918 Kingston Pike (Knox Plaza)

Food City:
5941 Kingston Pike
939 Alcoa Highway

City of Knoxville Downtown Recycling Center:
400 State Street

Goodwill Collection Centers:
1. 225 W. Moody Avenue
2. Collection Center at the corner of Magnolia and Alice
3. 341 Parkvillage Road - across from P&S School Supply
4. 820 Metler Drive
5. 5003 Broadway (Fountain City)

Participating sponsors are the City of Knoxville, Rock-Tenn Recycling and Knox County Solid Waste Office.