IN WITH THE NEW AND RECYCLE THE OLD BOOKS

"Project ReDirectory" gets under way this week in Southeast Missouri.

Area residents are encouraged to take part in the Southwestern Bell Telephone/Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages campaign, designed to recycle outdated telephone directories.

"We started delivering new directories late last week," said Don Fisher, of Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages. "Everyone in the Cape Girardeau region should have a new directory by the end of the month."

More than 70,000 copies of the new directory, 3,000 more than a year ago, will be delivered in the area.

Old directories may be deposited at a number of sites, starting Wednesday, and continuing through Nov. 14.

-- All Bank of America centers.

-- Schnucks, 19 S. Kingshighway.

-- Southeast Missouri State University Student Recreation Center, 750 New Madrid.

-- City of Cape Girardeau Recycling Center, 120 N. Broadview..

-- Schaper's IGA Plus, Jackson, 528 W. Main.

-- City of Jackson vehicle maintenance facility, 416 Florence.

In addition, old directories will be picked up with other recyclable materials as part of Cape Girardeau's curbside collection program.

"We're encouraging everyone to pitch in the recycling program," said Donna Burk, area manager of Southwestern Bell Telephone.

The recycled directories are used to make a variety of products such as bathroom tissue, paper towels, cereal boxes and animal bedding.

The new directories, which features a an old mill photo on the cover, includes emergency numbers, a guide to local and long-distance services, white page listings, yellow-page listing and some money-saving coupons.

The directory also includes a calendar of events, Southeast Missouri State University sports schedules and seating diagrams for the university's Show Me Center, and Busch Stadium at St. Louis.

The directory's cover picture, taken by photographer Gayle Harper, features the Alley Springs Mill along the Jack Forks River in Shannon County.

By simply dropping off the outdated directories, residents can take part in the campaign to save trees and landfill spaces, say Fisher and Burk.

Since the first ReDirectory project, in 1992, more than 100,000 pounds of directories have been recycled, saving more than 800 mature trees and keeping the old books out of landfills. Project ReDirectory is conducted in 40 cities throughout Southwestern Bell's five-state region.

Other Project Directory sponsors include Bank of America, City of Cape Girardeau, City of Jackson, Schaper's IGA Plus, Schnucks and Southeast Missouri State University.