The first of the year is a great time to break bad habits and start new healthy ones. And I have just the way to get this good habit started.

Phonebooks are a good place to start recycling. Round up the old ones because the new ones are arriving right now. It is time to give those old books the boot and make room for a new book in your life. But don’t just toss it in the trash. That phonebook contains hundreds of pages of paper that can be recycled into other useful paper products. Just think how many trees would be saved if every household and business in Liberty County recycled their phonebooks. That’s a lot of paper!

This week, we will be putting out collection boxes around town as drop-off sites, including municipal and government offices.
Phonebooks and catalogs also can be placed in the newspaper bins at the county’s solid-waste convenience centers and recycling centers.

Additional drop-off locations between Jan. 15-Feb. 15 are:

• Liberty County Courthouse Annex lobby, Hinesville

• City Hall lobby, Hinesville

• City Hall lobby, Midway

• City Hall lobby, Riceboro

• City Hall porch, Walthourville

• City Hall lobby, Flemington

• Liberty County Chamber of Commerce

Local businesses and industries are encouraged to collect their old phone books and business catalogs, too. We will be happy to arrange a courtesy pick-up for any businesses with a substantial number phonebooks and sales catalogs through Feb. 15. Just call Keep Liberty Beautiful at 880-4888 to make arrangements.

If you are not convinced that recycling paper can make a difference, consider these facts:

• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees. (epa.gov)

• More than 36 percent of the fiber used to make new paper products in the United States now comes from recycled sources. (kab.org)

• Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. (Earth911.com)

• Many paper products can be recycled several times (greenliving.nationalgeographic.com). What an opportunity to extend the life of these resources and reduce the amount of energy necessary to produce these items, too.

Help us keep these recyclable items out of our landfills! Recycle your phonebooks and business catalogs this month. Get the recycling “high!”

Upcoming Keep Liberty Beautiful events

Bring One for the Chipper — Saturday, Jan. 12. Plan now to recycle your undecorated Christmas tree. Drop-off sites for decoration-free Christmas trees are at all county solid-waste convenience centers and recycling drop-off centers. For information, call 880-4888, email klcb@coastalnow.net or find KLB on Facebook.

Recycle It! Fair — Feb. 19. Fair for electronics, household hazardous-waste items and selected household goods. Call 880-4888 or email klcb@coastalnow.net for more information.