Local Schools Recycled Phone Directories

Berry Company News Release

Molokai schools helped a statewide effort to collect nearly 40,000 pounds of outdates telephone directories for recycling during a month-long program called Think Yellow, Go Green. The program was initiated by Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages and its sales agent, The Berry Company, LLC, along with schools on the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Maui and Molokai. This year marked the fifth annual recycling drive.

The month-long environmental awareness program was driven by strong community support and invited the local schools to compete to collect the most outdated directories for recycling. The schools had the opportunity to win cash prizes for their students’ participation in the program, and award amounts varied depending on the school’s location. The Think Yellow, Go Green program creates an opportunity to teach students across the neighbor islands about the importance of recycling and giving reusable materials new life. Montessori Education Center of Hawaii collected the most outdated telephone directories on Hawaii Island, amassing nearly 2,900 outdated directories – and the school has an enrollment of 15 students. For the island of Molokai, Kaunakakai Elementary School came in first place with 1,179 books collected, and Kualapu`u School collected 604 books for second place.

Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages and Berry teamed up with local food banks, including Hawaii Foodbank, Hawaii Foodbank – Kauai Branch, The Food Basket and the Maui Foodbank, to host a community food drive. By using heavier-weight delivery bags that can be reused, Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages and Berry encouraged the community to fill the bags with nonperishable food items and deliver them to the participating food banks.

“This year’s Think Yellow, Go Green program on the neighbor islands collected more than 25,000 directories for recycling, and each outdated directory we collect is kept out of the landfill,” said Ray Carulli, branch manager of the Hawaii division. “We want to thank the neighbor islands’ community and local schools for their outstanding support and for helping to preserve our local environment.”

After the close of the contest, the recycled telephone directories were shipped to Oahu for recycling. Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages are 100 percent recyclable, and the materials are converted into an array of new products, including building insulation, writing and copier papers, newsprint, paper towels and more. For more information about the recycling program, visit ThinkYellowGoGreen.com.