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I like the phonebook because it's nice to just quickly browse through a list. But I do agree that people should be able to opt out. I don't live in the US anyway so I can't opt out, but I'll keep getting mine anyway. I can't always find what I'm looking for online either.

I have to watch my budget a bit more these days and one thing I cut was the hefty cost of internet. As such, I actually do use the phone book. But I am all for folks having the option of opting out.

I was thinking the same exact thing a couple of months ago when we got the yellow pages on our doorstep. I never use them, but I couldn't find any resource for Opting out. I guess I could have contacted the companies directly, I just didn't get that far.

In an effort to curtail city recycling expenses and reduce litter, Councilor Salvatore LaMattina has proposed a new ordinance that would ban the distribution of unsolicited commercial deliveries weighing more than a pound. His target: hundreds of thousands of phone books left on front stoops and sidewalks across the city.

"The taxpayers end up paying for this stuff to be carted off and recycled," LaMattina said, noting the piles he's seen on streets in East Boston and the North End.

"It's a waste of paper," he said. "It's a waste of money."

Under LaMattina's proposal, companies that deliver any unrequested item weighing more than a pound would be fined $300 per violation. Both the Verizon and Yellow Book's directories weighed in excess of four pounds this year. Residents who wish to continue having phone books delivered could request them from the publishers.



http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/03/city_councillor.html

it's important to note that the "Sign Up" form does NOT get you out of receiving unwanted phone books. it is more like signing a petition to your government to disallow the distribution of unwanted phone books pre-registering for a do-not-deliver list.

the site creators are definitely new to this...they shouldn't be using misleading text on the "Sign Up" page when asking for people's personal information.

When individuals sign up at www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org the organization IS contacting the publishers to inform them to stop delivering the telephone books. The publishers state you can call them and they will remove you from delivery but this is the first electronic site to do this. The Yellow Page Associations feels it may not be until 2010 until the can come up with an "opt out" system. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org already has this in place. When you sign up they contact your local publisher to provide the name and address of the indivduals that opt out. This site is not trying to stop the Yellow Pages. They feel some people still use them. They are stopping the unsolicited delivery of the books and putting the burden on the customer to recycle them. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is getting hundreds of people everyday across the country signing up. www.YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is working with local governments to help organize their efforts to control this problem which is a litter and landfill issue.

this post is timely, but late to me and those in my neighborhood -- our sidewalks and stoops are littered with the phone books and the heavy plastic bags they are delivered in. they've been sitting two weeks already. makes me shudder.

i live in an apartment building and we have massive blocks of phone books dropped outside the front door routinely. i had already opted out individually, and when i heard my building manager complaining about the hassle for him to dispose of the books, i told him about the site. he went to it, loved it, and has signed up all his properties! it's about time someone stepped up to combat all of this unwanted waste!

I live in the suburban sprawl of a metro area and I got tired of phone books on my porch every few months so I called the company and insisted they send out the person who delivered it to pick it up. That person I talked with got snooty so I asked for her manager. Long story short...the guy came and picked it up a few mornings later and I haven't received another.