The city of Phoenix Public Works Department and the Phoenix Public Library will start up the city’s first public-recycling program Monday as part of an effort to reduce excessive waste creation and promote creative uses of post-consumer materials.
“Recycle Write” is a new program encouraging the donation of used pens, pencils or markers to any of the 16 public libraries or nine OfficeMax retail stores in Phoenix.
“If it writes, it recycles,” said Debbie Veldhuis, the program’s coordinator.
The recycle locations will have designated collection containers where people can donate their used writing instruments, Veldhuis said.
Once they have been collected, writing materials will be shipped to TerraCycle, a New Jersey-based company that specializes in upcycling, a process of taking recycled materials and making new products out of them, Veldhuis said.
The program does not cost taxpayers any money. “The city of Phoenix does not have to pay for shipping to TerraCycle. It is all on TerraCycle’s dime,” Veldhuis said.
Emily Bradford, publicist for TerraCycle, said the company will pay two cents back to the libraries for every writing instrument that is collected.
Proceeds from the program will go to the Friends of the Phoenix Public Library, which supports other programs, such as adult GED classes and children’s summer-reading games, Veldhuis said.
“Many people in the environmental movement focus on clean energy and oil, but they tend to steer away from garbage,” Bradford said. “So essentially TerraCycle is changing the way people perceive garbage, and it has created a fun way to look at the problem we have with plastics and creates new solutions.”
Veldhuis said that because the program is so new, some details are still being worked out and an end date has not been set.
Every year Americans discard a great deal of useful waste, Veldhuis said, and once that waste ends up in a landfill it can take hundreds of years to break down.
“I hope the public will pick up on this project and keep in mind the landfills and the environment the next time they go to throw their pens away,” Veldhuis said.
Contact the reporter at jehoagla@asu.edu
