Phone books not suitable for recycling, burned instead

Question: Can phone books be recycled in the blue curbside bins? How about at recycling containers at the schools? If not, where can they be taken? Do the covers need to be ripped off first? I saw the number to call to opt out of delivery next time. Is there a number for the other phone books?

Answer: No and no, to your first two questions.

The city says to toss unwanted telephone directories into a trash container, where it will be taken to the HPOWER plant and burned for energy. The community recycling bins still available at some schools do not accept telephone books.

The Berry Co., which publishes the directories for Hawaiian Telcom, will be accepting outdated directories each weekend in January at its “Think Yellow, Go Green” events.

You can also drop off directories published by other companies. You do not have to remove the covers.

Here’s the drop-off schedule for this year:

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday; Jan. 18, 19 and 20; and Jan. 25, 26 and 27 at:

>> Kahala Mall, in the parking lot next to the Macy’s Men’s Store.

>> Town Center of Mililani, behind Consolidated Theaters next to Tesoro Gas Express.

>> Ward Centers, mauka side of the Pier 1 parking lot, corner of Queen and Kamakee streets.

>> Windward Mall, in the parking lot near the corner of Haiku Road and Kamehameha Highway.

To arrange to drop off bulk quantities, call 833-2018.

For more information, go to tinyurl.com/bd9b36u.

It might interest you to know that the directories collected all end up at the HPOWER waste-to-energy plant. None of it is recycled into new paper, said a spokes­woman for the Berry Co. However, she pointed out “the recycler (the city) processes the books into refuse-derived fuel.”

On its website — tiny­url.com/3jwrup5 — the city says people should understand that “low-grade, low-value papers and plastics are more beneficial” being burned as trash: “Our trash is no longer a waste, it’s a resource for manufacturing new products, creating soil amendments and generating power.”

Seven percent of Oahu’s electricity is now “trash powered,” with electricity produced at HPOWER sold to Hawaiian Electric Co. (Metals, such as steel cans, extracted from the trash at the plant are sold for recycling.)

Don’t Want Directories?

You can opt out of receiving directories from Hawaiian Telcom, Paradise Pages (Yellowbook) and Island Pages at the Local Search Association (formerly Yellow Pages Association), www.localsearchassociation.org/Main/Home.aspx.

Or call 833-2018 (on Oahu) for Hawaiian Telcom, 800-929-3556 for Paradise Pages or 814-949-7028 for Island Pages.

Check the city’s opala.org website for more information on recycling.

MAHALO

To the good Samaritan who gave four out-of-towners a ride to the next bus terminal Nov. 27. He was looking for his nephew when he came upon us waiting for a bus that was going to be late because of an accident between a motorcyclist and a golf cart at Turtle Bay. He was familiar with the Puget Sound area, where we’re from. — Carol Welborn

MAHALO

For a job well done to everyone who contributed to completing the renovation of the Kailua Library. The library was closed for construction, set to reopen in December. Instead, it opened in late November. — Elizabeth Kent