Quick Greener: Stop the Phone Books!

We're all fairly plugged in these days, so the phone book has been getting more and more dusty. Make that the phone books... with the proliferation of phone companies, we get no fewer than three sets of white and yellow pages on our doorstep every year. Here's how to stop them from coming.

Steer clear of websites that offer to do it for you—they can't guarantee that publishers will honor your request. Instead, contact the publishers directly using the phone number on the front page or inside cover of the book, and make it clear that you no longer want to receive these dinosaurs.

The Oregonian's PDX Green blog brought this to our attention and lists contact info for DEX/Qwest, Yellow Book, and Idearc/Verizon.

And make sure the ones you get rid of end up in the recycling bin... nationally, about 80% end up in landfills instead. For more news on what people are doing about the alarming proliferation of phone books, check out Project Stewardship's Phone Book Project.

image by vincus via sxc.hu

Comments (2)

I didn't even get a phone book this year, which works for me. Usually I get 3 and have to recycle them all. I can find everything faster online then I could even attempt to find it in a phone book

posted by khrystena on October 24th 2008 at 5:06am
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If only it were as simple as a phone call. Unfortunately, the phone books around here are distributed to every single residence, whether or not that residence even has phone service. Even empty houses get phone books dumped on their front porches.

posted by Aimi on October 24th 2008 at 11:23am
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