More than 73,000 old telephone directories are expected to be recycled this year under a rapidly expanding environmental protection program.
 
The collections should be triple last year's figure as more hotels are taking part in the program, a representative of Shanghai Yellow Pages Company, said yesterday.
   
"More than 200 Shanghai hotels are turning in their old Yellow Pages," said Xia Yali, a market official at Shanghai Yellow Pages.
   
The directories will be recycled as printing paper for next year's edition.
   
The company expects to reclaim more than 70 tons of old books this year, which can save at least 1,000 trees, according to the Shanghai Branch of Roots and Shoots, an international environmental protection organization.
   
Volunteers from local universities and middle schools were organized by Roots and Shoots to collect the old phone books from residences and companies.
   
Yellow pages officials said they will donate the money saved by the recycling to the organization for further environmental protection efforts. Nearly 3 million telephone directories are sent out across the city every year, but only about 5 percent have been reclaimed in the past. The figure is estimated to grow to 30 percent this year.

(Shanghai Daily March 25, 2005)