Stop the phonebooks, save the paper

Tired of getting phone directories dropped at your home every month or so? There may be a solution.

It wastes paper to throw them away and they would just end up in a landfill. The books are difficult to recycle because of the low grade paper used in printing them and they contain a heavy duty glue that causes problems in the recycling process.

One lawmaker has proposed a solution: a do-not-deliver registry, just like the one for junk mail. Sen. Janet Cowell, a Raleigh Democrat, has proposed a bill to require each directory provider to have a hot line for stopping delivery. She says this would reduce waste, save governments the cost of recycling and end the problem of phone books left rotting on the pavement.

A news story describes the problem and possible solutions...

News and Observer
March 13, 2007
Ryan Teague Beckwith, Staff Writer

Hold the phone books, lawmaker asks

Let your fingers do the walking? These days, it's more like let your arms do the carrying -- straight to the recycling bin. With the directory business booming, many North Carolinians are annoyed at phone books littering lawns and driveways.

A state lawmaker has the solution: a do-not-deliver registry, just like the one for junk mail. Sen. Janet Cowell, a Raleigh Democrat, has proposed a bill to require each directory provider to have a hot line for stopping delivery. She said it would reduce waste, save governments the cost of recycling and end the problem of phone books left rotting on the pavement. "I bet you 25 percent of my neighbors haven't picked theirs up," Cowell said. Read more...