The local Boys & Girls Club won the Embarq and Keep Greene Beautiful telephone book recycling contest by collecting 1,124 old phone books.

A total of 4,791 out-of-date phone books were collected for recycling between June 25 through July 31.

Second place went to Asbury Relay for Life with 1,111 phone books collected, and third place went to Greene Valley Developmental Center for collecting 938 phone books.

Embarq provided the contest prize money, with the first place winner receiving $150, second place $100 and third place $50.

Other groups that participated were as follows: Midway U.M. Youth, EcoQuest International, Timber Ridge Youth Group, New Haven Master Seekers, Jared Ellenburg, New Lebanon Church Girls in Action, and Southern Finance.

"On behalf of Keep Greene Beautiful, we would like to extend our appreciation to Embarq for sponsoring the contest, and the Greeneville Public Works Department for providing transportation of the phone books," said Jennifer Reynolds, director of Keep Greene Beautiful.

"This contest gave us an opportunity to provide a service to the community and we, in turn, benefit from programs like this because phone books are 100 percent recyclable."

All registered participants will receive a certificate of participation for their efforts.

"It's great to have so many volunteers dedicate their time to collect phone books which will be recycled," said Jim Wilhoit, external affairs manager for Embarq. "Also on behalf of Embarq, Keep Greene Beautiful and the contest participants, we appreciate the support and cooperation from local businesses in making this contest a great success."

For more information regarding programs of Keep Greene Beautiful, call the Greene County Partnership at 638-4111.