Cayman Eco

1 November 2010
Cayman Islands Yellow Pages Press Release
George Town, Grand Cayman

'Yellow2Green' programme aims to keep 60 tons of old phonebooks out of Cayman’s landfill in 2010

The next twenty days will see one of the most important recent environmental initiatives as the Cayman Islands Yellow Pages (CIYP) launches “Yellow2Green”, a programme designed to recycle old phone books into insulation for homes. The launch coincides with the release of the 2011 Cayman Islands telephone directory and will run from November 1^st – 20^th.

“Our intent is to keep 60 tons of phone books from ending up in the landfill and to elevate everyone’s awareness about the importance of recycling and conservation,” explains CIYP Marketing Manager Eileen Keens. “This is the pilot programme and we’re very hopeful that everyone in Grand Cayman will participate – businesses and individuals alike. If we’re successful, this will become an annual event to include Cayman Brac and eventually Little Cayman.”

“There’s absolutely no down-side to this,” adds Ms. Keens, “it’s easy for people to take their old phone books to any one of 11 drop-off points island-wide but, more importantly, it’s a benefit to our country and our environment – it’s the right, responsible thing to do.”

The programme includes the “Yellow2Green School Challenge”, where all primary schools can compete to win a pizza party and up to $1500. The school that collects the most books, per student body, wins. “This is a great way to get kids excited about recycling – this is about their future, so it’s critical that they value preservation and grasp the concept of personal responsibility,” explains Ms. Keens.

CIYP will accept any dry phone book, even if it’s not one of theirs. All books will be shipped via Thompson Shipping Line to Tampa where they’ll be 100% recycled into GreenFiber insulation, an all-natural, high quality fiber insulation product used for homes. GreenFiber is North America’s leading natural fiber manufacturer and they have been working with communities across the US, and now in the Caribbean, to help keep over one million tons of paper out of landfills.

“This really is a big deal. We’re pretty sure everyone agrees that our landfill doesn’t need any more unnecessary waste, each one of those recycled directories is one step closer to a greener community” adds Ms. Keens. “And we’re thankful to all our sponsors for making it happen.”

All businesses and individuals are encouraged to deliver as many old phone books as they can to any drop-off location by November 20^th. For businesses with large amounts of books, the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce has been designated as the primary corporate collection site at their new Governor’s Square office.

Drop-off Locations

All Foster’s Food Fair locations island-wide
Chamber of Commerce, Governor’s Square
Camana Bay
LIME Galleria Plaza
LIME Anderson Square
Hurley’s Grand Harbour
Kirk Supermarket

Sponsors

BB&P
Camana Bay
Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce
Foster’s Food Fair
GreenFiber
Hurley’s
Kirk Supermarket
Lemmie’s Trucking Services
LIME
NCI Services
Thompson Line
Vision Marketing

For more information please visit caymanislandsyp.com/recycling or email Eileen Keens at ekeens@globaldirectories.com.