City’s dedicated books recycling service has collected 102,000+ lb of books

News Release

Penticton residents placed 51,000 lb of books into the dedicated books recycling carts at the Public Library in 2024, bringing the total to more than 102,000 lb since the program began.

“It’s encouraging to see how Penticton has embraced this program, which provides a convenient location to dispose of old or damaged books that are not suitable for donating,” says David Kassian, sustainability supervisor. “To put this in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 51 moose! It’s great to see there’s consistent demand for this program.”

The City launched its books recycling service in early 2023 after noticing that residents were mistakenly placing books into their recycling carts.  Recycle BC does not accept hard cover or paperback books, such as novels, textbooks or encyclopedias. These must be dropped off to the ‘Planet Earth Recycling’ bins, located within the lobby of the Public Library and at Campbell Mountain Landfill.

Residents are reminded that these books will be destroyed and the paper recycled. Books that are gently used may be donated to Penticton Public Library, charities and community organizations, or added to a ‘Little Library,’ with a list of those throughout the community available at penticton.ca/books.

Penticton’s goal is to lower the community’s recycling contamination rate from 6 per cent to 5 per cent or lower by the end of the year. If the City does not meet its goals set out by Recycle BC, it could lead to increased costs to deliver the program as a result of fines.  It may also lead to a less convenient recycling service, such as having to sort everything into separate bins or bags, which has been shown to reduce contamination in other B.C. communities.

For more information on recycling, visit penticton.ca/recycling and try the ‘What Goes Where’ tool, or phone the Recycle BC Hotline at 1-800-667-4321.