Phone books go online to save trees

More than 16,000 people ‘opt-in’ for online directories and mobile applications as an alternative to print phone books, the WhitePages, Inc announced on its Web site this month.

WhitePages, an online and mobile directory, introduced the BanThePhoneBook campaign to encourage green alternatives to printed phone books. The ‘opt-in’ delivery program would allow the distribution of phone books only by request. The campaign emphasizes the heavy burden on taxpayers in addition to 5 million trees cut each year to create white pages phone books. WhitePages estimates $17 million spent each year to recycle phone books.

Law in most states requires local phone companies to deliver paper phone books to each land line subscriber every year. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Missouri have already adopted opt-in program, according to a WhitePages press release.
"There is no need to waste taxpayers’ money and paper," said John Lusk, Vice President of Marketing at WhitePages. "People don’t want the phone books, they don’t use the books, they throw them away."
 
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