WARREN — If the pandemic has caused a buildup of reading materials and junk mail, the Tribune Chronicle has a solution: Recycle it.

After canceling its annual Earth Day recycling event last year because of COVID-19, the event is back, with some modifications. The recycling collection will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 22 in the rear parking lot of the Tribune Chronicle, at the corner of Vine Avenue SE and South Street SE.

“We are happy to be back after missing last year, and we look forward to being able to help the environment,” Sue Shafer, community events coordinator for the Tribune Chronicle, said.

In addition to the shortened time frame for this year’s recycling event, there also will be no on-site shredding service. However, Shafer said items still can be brought for shredding and will be kept in a secure box with a cover. Items will be shredded later.

Residents may bring their paper products to the parking lot, where there will be a drive-thru dropoff. Newspaper staff members will be present to help with the unloading.

This year marks 11 years of the Tribune Chronicle providing a location to discard unwanted magazines, junk mail, newspapers and hardbound and paperback books. Recyclable paper products that will be accepted are newspapers, junk mail, envelopes, magazines, office paper, paper bags, encyclopedias, hard cover books, paperback books, telephone books and thick manuals.

In 2019, more than 6,000 pounds of shredded paper and more than 30,000 pounds of documents, books and manuals were collected throughout the Earth Day event.

Throughout the year, the Tribune Chronicle accepts newspapers and magazines in its mini-shed in the newspaper’s parking lot, where people can drop off paper recyclables.