Sustainability efforts ensure more hard-to-recycle textbooks diverted from landfill

Bend-La Pine Schools recently adopted the Really Great Reading Curriculum, marking the first new elementary curriculum since the pandemic. This presented the challenge of responsibly disposing of old materials to make room for new ones. With no local recycling market for hard-bound textbooks, the school district’s sustainability and custodial staff has tackled the challenge of finding environmentally responsible options.

After months of searching for other school districts that could reuse the books, the district is proceeding with disposal. One of the goals of the district’s Sustainability Plan is to reduce landfill waste, making it crucial to find a recycling option for these materials. The Paper People, a company in Vancouver, Wash., has a facility capable of processing waste paper, including hard-bound books. Republic Services, the waste disposal and recycling company stepped in to help transport the textbooks from Bend to Vancouver. 

Assisted by students, district custodians, and other staff packed old curricular materials into 40-cubic-foot boxes at the end of last school year and delivered them to Republic Services, which trucked the books to The Paper People’s facility this summer.

“Republic is thrilled to support the district’s efforts to keep these materials out of the landfill and help get them to a market where they can be used to manufacture new paper products,” said Courtney Voss, Municipal Manager with Republic Services.

The efforts diverted about 66 cubic yards of books from Knott Landfill in Bend.

“This was a team effort at the end of the school year and could not have been accomplished without the support of staff, administration, and the custodial teams. Diverting this amount of waste makes a difference in our community and speaks volumes to our commitment to sustainability,” said Jackie Wilson, Sustainability and Energy Specialist for Bend-La Pine Schools.