Too many phone books?
Sustainable living › Step up your green game › Phone books
If you want to reduce the number of phone directories that are delivered to your doorstep, follow these tips.
There are 500 million telephone directories produced each year in this country, nearly two for every man, woman and child. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality estimated that 6.45 million sets of directories were distributed in Oregon in 2003, despite the that fact that there were only 1.33 million households in the state.
Most people would agree that more than one set of directories for each person is indeed too much. If you want to get rid of unwanted phone directories, you can recycle them through your home or business recycling program. But if you'd rather not get them in the first place, you can opt out of receiving them.
Resources needed to produce 500 million phone books
- 19 million trees
- 1.6 billion pounds of paper
- 7.2 million barrels of oil (not including fuel used for delivery)
- 268,000 cubic yards of landfill (less than half of directories delivered are recycled)
- 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity
Source: yellowpagesgoesgreen.org
To stop delivery of unwanted phone books, sign up for a free, online opt-out service provided by Metro and Catalog Choice. Opt out now
Or, contact the publishers directly:
The Yellow Book
http://corporate.yellowbook.com/products/print-directory-options-opt-out/
800-929-3556, press 3 to speak with a person
Verizon (Idearc)
800-888-8448
remain on the line to speak to a person
or 800-555-4833
press 4, then 5, then 2
Idearc plans to have an online opt out function available by the end of 2009.
Dex
www.selectyourdex.com
866-60-MY-DEX (866-606-9339)
Enter your zip code and information to view Dex directories that are currently delivered to your home. You may modify the mix of books to request more copies of one, fewer of another or none at all. If you opt out of delivery you will receive a door hanger during distribution confirming your choice.
Additional resources
- The Yellow Pages Association's Consumer Choice (www.yellowpagesoptout.com) web page has additional information about directory opt out programs.
- For other phone directories, check for a phone number for customer service or "to order directories" on front cover or inside page
- yellowpagesgoesgreen.org is a national organization dedicated to stopping the distribution of unwanted directories.