A great example of Planned Obsolescence is the Yellow Pages we receive every year in our mailbox. Each year, over 7000 different titles of the Yellow Pages is distributed across North America. According to some statistics, 540 million of phone book were distributed which means that every American receive more than 1 Yellow Pages! The revenue generated each year from the Media Company publishing those directories is close to $13 billion!
According to Los Gatos, California’s Green Valley Recycling, if all Americans recycled their phonebooks for a year, we would save 650,000 tons of paper and free up two million cubic yards of landfill space. Modesto, California’s Parks, Recreation & Neighborhoods Department, which lets city residents include phonebooks with their regular curbside pickup, says that for each 500 books recycled, we save:
• 7,000 gallons of water
• 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
• 17 to 31 trees
• 4,100 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power an average home for six months
Despite of knowing that the phonebook papers are 100% recyclable, many recyclers will NOT accept those phone books because the fiber to create lightweight pages are too short to be recreated into a new paper. You still can use your old phone book for different use in your home. In nowadays, phone books are outdated since you can search for anything via the web.
To avoid more consumption and waste of those phone books, companies like DEX Knows, AT&T or SBC Communication offer you different kind of solutions:
1) Opt-out from their mailing listing
2) Find local partners that will accept your old phone books to recycle it.
3) Order a CD Directories instead of the book
4) Find a local community that will accept your old phone books.
I invite you to visit or call your different provider of phone book and opt you out from their mailing list.
- SBC Communication / Bell South Corporation / AT&T Directories: Call 1-866-326-7200
- Verizon Communications / Super Media Directories: Call 1-800-555-4833
- Yellow Pages USA: Order your CD 1-800-745-8720
Added by:
Schahram Rezai-Ahvanoui
Nice Post about How To Recycle Your Phone Books.
ReplyDeletephone recyclers