The sight of phonebooks piling up at postal stations in The Villages, prompted a resident’s plea for stepped-up recycling efforts.
Bernhard Guenther, of the Village of Largo, spoke out on the problem Friday before the Community Development District 6 Board of Supervisors.
For years, the Villages District Office has pleaded with residents not to dump their phonebooks at the postal stations. It made that plea as recently as Oct. 10 in its weekly bulletin.
Guenther said it’s time to start recycling phonebooks in The Villages.
“Personally, I haven’t used a phonebook in five years,” he said.
The former New Jersey resident said he was heavily involved in recycling programs back in the Garden State. He said recycling programs in The Villages just don’t measure up.
“There are people who are just not recycling. I believe 90 percent of everything can be recycled,” Guenther said.
He called for signs to be put at postal stations, encouraging residents to take home and recycle their junk mail rather than dumping it in the trash at the postal stations.
District Manager Richard Baier countered Guenther’s assertions and said the rate of recycling in The Villages is 44 percent, “Which is above the national average.”
