Free book recycling event offered by Will County Resource Recovery and Energy Division

    JOLIET – It’s time to start cleaning out bookshelves to make room for new titles, get rid of old ones -- or both.

    The Will County Land Department’s Resource Recovery and Energy Division annual book event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 3, through Sunday, June 5, at Joliet Park District’s Pilcher Park Nature Center, 2501 Highland Park Drive.

    Schools, libraries, and members of the general public can bring unused and unwanted books for reuse and recycling, said Tim Anderson of the Will County Land Use Department’s Resource Recovery and Energy Division.  

    All types of hardcover and paperback books, as well as magazines, will be accepted and shared for free to anyone in attendance.  Categories include children’s, cookbooks, fiction/non-fiction, health and living,   hobbies, religion, romance, textbooks and travel.   

    Last year, many Will County students participated by bringing children’s books to the annual Earth Flag Ceremony held in May. The Earth Flag Ceremony recognizes schools in the Will County Region for their recycling efforts. The students contributed more than 5,000 books to the reuse and recycling event.
     The annual book event prevents thousands of books from going unused or dumped into landfills, said Anderson.  Instead, these books are redistributed free. Books that are not reused will be shipped for recycling at the end of the three-day event.

      “Our goal is to promote literacy and improve the environment through recycling,” Anderson said.

     The reuse-recycling event is co-sponsored by Will County RRE and the Joliet Park District.  Contact Anderson at (815) 727-8834, or go to www.willcountygreen.com for additional information.

     The Will County Land Use Department is led by Director Curt Paddock and is under County Executive Larry Walsh’s office.