As the Internet becomes the resource more Americans turn to for phone numbers, lawmakers are beginning to examine the proliferation of unwanted phone books — and their environmental impact. A Minnesota legislator, Rep. Paul Gardner, has introduced state legislation to allow consumers to opt-out of receiving the paper directories, but is taking a wait-and-see approach on a voluntary initiative by phone services to allow convenient opt-out. Several other states have considered such a law, but none has passed.
Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency estimates that only 12% of discarded phone books were recycled in 2006, meaning 11,538 tons of them ended up as municipal solid waste. This is despite a 1992 state law that bans disposal of phone books as solid waste and requires phone companies to make recycling options available. The agency also figures that if about 50% of state consumers opted out of receiving phone books, this would prevent 14,000 metric tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent.” A Twin Cities blogger is so tired of receiving phone books he doesn’t need that he posted a video of his comical effort to return one. Meanwhile, a private nonprofit group, Yellowpagesgoesgreen.org, has signed up more than 3,000 Minnesotans who want to opt out. And there are other options.
Gardner is also the author of a proposed product stewardship law for the state.
Image credit: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
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Dave Dempsey
Dave Dempsey is a writer active in conservation for more than 25 years. A frequent freelance contributor and newsweekly columnist, Dave is the author of four award-winning books on the environment and a biography of Michigan’s longest-serving Governor, William Milliken. A native of Michigan who now lives in the Twin Cities metro in Minnesota, Dave served as environmental advisor to Michigan Governor James J. Blanchard from 1983-89. President Clinton appointed him to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in 1994. Dave has also held numerous administrative, policy and consulting positions for nonprofit conservation and environmental organizations in Michigan and Minnesota. He was both policy director and executive director at the Michigan Environmental Council and Great Lakes policy consultant for Clean Water Action. Dave has a bachelor of arts degree from Western Michigan University and a master’s degree in natural resource development from Michigan State University, and has served as an adjunct university instructor at MSU in environmental policy.
4 Responses to Who Needs a Phone Book?
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[...] to recycle due to the paper being of lower quality than what is normally recycled. Plus, up to 88% of phone books are never used, especially in this era of internet searches and iphones. While it would be nice to [...]
I lived in LA, after phone book day, the streets look like a war zone of wasted phone books.
The beauty of opt-out is that any consumer who still would like a paper directory can get one (or more) simply by refraining from opting out. In Minnesota, rural residents particularly still rely on paper directories.
What about the 1 out of 3 homes that do not currently have a computer?