Ohio Recycling Center Looking for Books

The Bowling Green Recycling Center wants them all.

With the market for recycled paper strong and the recent purchase of a $60,000 book debinder, the recycling center on North College Drive is now accepting books of all kinds.

The new machine can rip the binding off 1,800 books per hour -- faster, really, than employees can feed them, said Ken Rieman, director of the Wood County Solid Waste District.

"I tried it the other night and I couldn't keep up,'' he said.

A sharp blade cuts the binding off each book, while suction cups remove the cover and the loose paper spits out the bottom onto a conveyor belt. The machine was purchased with a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention.

Scott Rieman, manager of the recycling center, said that after using the machine for a week, he is now on a quest to find a use for the binding and covers, which have to go to the Wood County Landfill.

"We're hoping to find a use for them because it's adding up fast,'' he said.

While the center only began accepting books March 1, it received about 30,000 pounds of books from Van Wert that a recycling center there was unable to process, he said.

The recycling center is notifying area school districts and libraries that they may now bring in their unwanted books.

Elaine Paulette, director of the Wood County District Public Library, said the library tries to sell the books it cannot use at public book sales, but unsold books would likely go to the recycling center now.

Just what books are ready for recycling is a matter of opinion.

Mandy Hackley, outreach librarian at the Wood County library, said outdated textbooks and encyclopedias published after about 1950 would be good candidates.

"Usually people don't like to part with books,'' she said. "The textbook is definitely one that would be perfect for the recycling center. It's shocking how expensive they can be and how quickly they can get outdated.''

Maureen Ireland, assistant director of the University Bookstore at Bowling Green State University, said the bookstore donates outdated textbooks with no resale value to non-profit reading organizations like Books for Africa.

"We don't recycle,'' she said, adding that she prefers to donate old books where they can be used.

"I would think there's a million places to donate books - a senior center, learn-to-read programs,'' Ms. Ireland said.

The recycling center decided to begin accepting books in part to prevent them from winding up in landfills, Ken Rieman said.

The center, which is open for drop-offs 24 hours a day, also accepts cardboard, brown bags, newspaper, telephone books, junk mail, mixed office paper, magazines and catalogs, plastic bottles, glass, steel and aluminum cans, aluminum foil, and scrap metal. - Toledo Blade