By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
When Andrea Estelle took over as director of the Otsego District Library nearly 12 years ago, one of the first projects she tackled was getting involved with the PaperGator Recycling program.
The partnership between the library and PaperGator has been a win-win, according to Estelle.
“By being involved with PaperGator, we’re able to help the environment and make some money for the library at the same time,” Estelle said. “The library is paid $25 per ton of recycled paper, and in our annual budget we earn about $1,000 to $1,5000 from recycling through PaperGator.”
And now, the library has the opportunity to potentially earn even more money through its involvement with PaperGator.
From now through Friday, April 11, PaperGator is holding a Recycling Challenge to celebrate Earth Day.
“The library has the opportunity to earn exciting rewards by increasing our paper recycling volume,” ODL said in its newsletter. “Plus, the library will earn double the usual payouts during the contest period.”
Winners will be selected based on the largest percentage increase in paper recycling during the contest period. The top winner will receive $5,000, with $2,000 going to second place and $1,000 going to third place.
The winner will be announced on Earth Day, which is Tuesday, April 22.
“We hope that patrons will bring in more paper than they usually do to help us win the contest,” Estelle said.
The library’s two PaperGator bins—a second was added within two years of ODL starting the program due to its popularity with patrons—are located behind the library past the staff parking area.
Acceptable products include any paper—including junk mail—damaged book and magazines.
Cardboard items such as cereal boxes are not accepted by PaperGator.
“Sometimes we find cardboard boxes in the Gator and we have to try to fish them out as we do not want to lose our service with PaperGator,” Estelle said. “We also recommend shredding any sensitive information or tearing off the sensitive information—like your name and address—before putting it in the bins since these are public dumpsters.”
Given the community support for the program during the past dozen years, Estelle is hopeful that the library will do well during the contest period.
“The PaperGator has had great community support over the years,” she said. “We usually have no trouble filling our bins. Since 2013, the library community has recycled over 700,000 pounds of paper. That is a weight equivalent to the weight of nearly 300 compact cars.
“We are excited about how the community has made a positive environmental impact through this program.”
PaperGator has also provided the library with a useful way of recycling damaged books or books that come to the bookstore donation center in disrepair.
“Some items arrive in our donations with too much damage to be able to sell,” Estelle said. “We encourage patrons to use the PaperGator for any damaged books that they want to recycle. It is also a great place to recycle ancient textbooks that are not sellable.
“We like that it is still a way to make some money for the library on books that do not sell or cannot be sold in our store.”
