Say No to Phonebooks

Moving house

katiegardner — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:52:27 +0000

We’ve relaunched this campaign and moved to www.saynotophonebooks.org

White Pages supports opt-in campaign for phonebook delivery in the U.S

katiegardner — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:56:21 +0000

According to Scientific American, research from White pages in the U.S. notes that less than 16 percent of adults recycle their old or unwanted phone books. The company is sponsoring a “Ban the Phone Book“ initiative to encourage phone book “opt-in” delivery programs. The plans which require subscribers to request the books, are already appearing in areas such as Georgia, Ohio and Florida. Other areas do offer an opt-out system.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=death-of-the-directory-when-was-the-2009-08-27

Malta ditches the book

katiegardner — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:53:44 +0000

News today from Malta that the traditional telephone directory could be ditched after almost 60 per cent of respondents to a recent Malta Communications Authority survey said they never used the printed directory. The MCA also noted that a printed books goes out of date too quickly in today’s world and that online services are much better solution to ensure data was correct and up-to-date:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090706/local/traditional-telephone-directory-may-not-be-printed-again

Crack down on phonebook litter triggers action

katiegardner — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:12:39 +0000

As local councils are starting to crack down on unwanted phonebook deliveries in the US, the Yellow Pages Association is pre-empting mandatory opt-outs by finally launching its own opt-out website. Something we should be doing on this side of the pond?

Momentum grows in the US

katiegardner — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:08:10 +0000

The latest news from the US is that momentum is building to offer an adequate opt-out facility for the delivery of printed phonebooks with some telcos going so far as to propose the introduction of an opt-in facility, thereby dramatically reducing the number of books produced.

According to the Kelsey Group, legislation has been introduced in Minnesota and Albany, New York, to compel Yellow Pages publishers to make it easy for consumers to opt out. While other directory publishers continue to refine their own programs in the hope of demonstrating genuine self-regulation, thus avoiding having regulations imposed on them. Read more >

And just this week AT&T Ohio called for a waiver of the rule that requires the company to distribute printed white pages after a similar request by Cincinnati Bell recently. The company is calling it an ‘environmentally friendly initiative’ that it believes many of its customers will appreciate . An AT&T spokeswoman said, “There are ways to obtain this information electronically.” The company also proposes the provision of a toll free directory enquiries number as a substitute. The article claims that the company distributes 800,000 of the books annually in Columbus alone! Read more >

If the telcos themselves are calling for a reduction in the number of printed directories produced, the demise of the phonebook must be near….

A time to reduce not just recycle

katiegardner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Yes, we’ve been a bit quiet of late but its all as we prepare for a massive 2009. More to come shortly, much more… But keep your comments and emails rolling in. It seems the support for this campaign just continues to grow.

Quiet yes, but not out, and this piece of news in The Guardian yesterday was too important not to share: “Paper price collapse blows hole in Britain’s recycling strategy“.

So the report goes, the price paid by the Far East for paper recycling has fallen so much that it may no longer be viable to ship this waste off for re-processing. The only other option? Incineration or landfill!

Well there’s 75 million tonnes of phonebooks we could stop producing right now to save such a cost to local councils but more importantly, the earth. If only households had a right to say no!

Yellow pages missing from more hotel rooms

katiegardner — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:47:50 +0000

News from the US this week is that some hotel chains have already started saying goodbye to phone books.

Their position: Guests no longer let their fingers do the walking through the yellow pages, because they have the Internet at their fingertips. Hyatt Hotels are among those with phonebook free rooms.

This is welcome news and demonstrates that businesses as well as consumers want the option as to whether they receive a phonebook. Imagine if everyone of the 4.5M businesses in the UK refused to receive a phonebook? Then we would really start to make an impact.

Say No to Phonebooks is going to the OLGA’s!

katiegardner — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:43:50 +0000

What are the OLGA’s you say? The Online Green Awards of course! Designed to encourage environmentally friendly aspects of the Internet, the OLGA’s promote the importance of the online economy and empower consumers and websites to be more socially responsible.

We are very proud to be shortlisted for the ‘Say No to Phonebooks’ campaign at these prestigious awards, as we continue to promote online directories as a much greener alternative to old phonebooks. It’s a fantastic endorsement of our campaign. Fingers crossed we do well at the award ceremony tomorrow.

The Funny Side of Phonebooks

katiegardner — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:34:26 +0000

Feedback on the campaign so far has been that many people just aren’t using phonebooks anymore. We have, however, found some alternative uses for the unused phonebooks that just keep stacking up in our homes….

   Ever seen a room filled with pages from a phonebook?
   One group of college students found a use for phonebooks….

Did you know you can’t tear two intertwined phonebooks apart?
Don’t believe me? Check it out!

Or fancy yourself as a bit of a strongman?
Find out how you tear a phonebook in half!

If you’ve found a better use for phonebooks, let us know. It all goes to show they’re not used for directory enquiries anymore!

Phonebook furniture?

Do businesses still use phonebooks? Obviously not!

katiegardner — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:10:22 +0000

I was walking down my high street on the way to work this morning and it seems the Business Pages have come to our local area.

Before we started this campaign we did a quick straw poll of all the offices in our building asking whether they used phonebooks anymore. Only 3 out of our 8 corporate neighbours could even find phonebooks in their office. 2 out of the 3 that could find a secret stash of phonebooks, still had them in their original protective plastic and the other one had phonebooks dating back to 2005!

So no surprises then when, this morning, with a number of shop fronts doors still sporting their shiny new phonebooks one owner had sent theirs directly to the rubbish pile. No point taking it inside for that business! If that’s not a case for making phonebooks opt-out, I don’t know what is…

For many businesses: For one particular business: