23 tons of phone books end up with Schenectady recycler

Here’s something different for people who normally just recycle their phone book: Someone beat you to it.

More than 23 tons of phone books apparently slated for delivery to households were instead recycled at a Schenectady facility without the blessing of the phone book company.

But don’t blame the recycling company.

Representatives from T.A. Predel & Co. said an official from the company notified them Thursday that the van loads of phone books sent to the recycling center were in fact unauthorized. Predel representatives could not identify the official, however.

According to the recycling company, which is working with the phone book’s publisher, more than 57,000 pounds of phone books were processed between Jan. 9 and Thursday.

The identity of the person who dropped the 16 loads off was recorded by the company. In 2011, records kept by Predel led to the arrests and convictions of a pair of Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. employees who illegally scrapped tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of metal tree grates belonging to the city.

Jody Paige, paper manager at Predel, on Friday said the loads were not unusual, since many companies and organizations send paper overruns to his recycling center.

“We just process it,” he said, adding he told the phone book company “we would help them any way we can.”

Schenectady police on Friday said they have not been called to investigate. Representatives from the phone book company could not be reached.