The City of Kamloops has launched a new book recycling program.

This new initiative provides residents with two dedicated spots to drop off their old books and textbooks, which cannot be accepted under the City’s curbside and multi-family recycling program.

“Hard and soft cover books, such as novels; textbooks; and reference materials, such as old encyclopedias or publications, are not accepted by Recycle BC because these types of books are durable goods, not product packaging or residential paper. In addition, hard and soft cover books and spines often contain glue, which is a contaminant in the recycling stream,” said Megan Graham, the City’s Solid Waste Services Analyst.

“Certain books, like comic books, magazines, and phone books, are accepted in the recycling cart,” Graham added.

Residents can now drop off their hard and soft cover books, textbooks, and reference materials at:

• Tournament Capital Centre, 910 McGill Road, main lobby
• North Kamloops Library, 693 Tranquille Road (see library attendant)

At the Tournament Capital Centre, residents can look for a new, bright yellow cart in the main lobby to drop their books into. At the North Kamloops Library, library attendants will be accepting the items to be recycled. Note: drop-off carts are located indoors and drop-off hours are subject to individual locations.

“We’re thrilled to be launching this program. We expect this will keep more books out of the garbage and recycling blue bins—where they do not belong—and help residents properly recycle these materials by providing convenient sites in the community for book recycling drop off,” said Graham.

Book recycling carts at these locations will be picked up each month. The books will be sorted, and those that are in good condition will be set aside for donation. Any residential paper items, such as magazines, are recycled through Recycle BC. Any hard and soft cover books that are ready to be recycled are processed through a book cutter, which chops off the spines and covers to separate the paper pages. These pages are then recycled.

Residents are reminded that they can use the free Waste Wise app to conveniently look up where hundreds of recyclable items go using the app’s Waste Wizard tool.

Learn more about the book recycling program at Kamloops.ca/BookRecycling.