IMPROVED PLANNING NEEDED FOR RECYCLING PHONE BOOKS 

Now that Maui is blessed with four phone books - Verizon, the Big Book, the AdVentures Publishing directory, and the tiny-but-invaluable Maui Register - it's time we were also blessed with a coordinated recycling campaign to dispose of the old phone books as they're replaced.

Thanks to Verizon and the publishers of the Big Book, last-minute recycling plans were coordinated to handle tens of thousands of outdated books. However, by the time the plans were publicly announced, the new books were delivered and too many of the old ones ended up in the landfill. 

In future, publishers of phone directories are asked to prepare and publicize their recycling plans before - not after - distribution of their new books.

Joy Webster