Year in, year out, like clockwork, over 500 million Yellow (and White) Pages are delivered to homes and offices, often up to six times a year. That’s a lot of dead trees (around 19 million) and wasted paper (1.6 billion pounds).

Does anyone use the Yellow Pages?

If gathering dust is all these books are doing in your house or office, then it’s time to turn the page on the directory delivery.

One college student in Missouri has done just that. His site, Yellow Pages Goes Green, offers help. Just sign up at Yellow Pages Goes Green and put in a request to stop delivery of the Yellow (and even White) Pages to your home and/or office and the local distributor will receive an electronic feed message to stop future deliveries. Be aware, though, you might still receive one more delivery before the books finally stop arriving.

But Yellow Pages Goes Green is more than just a place to sign up to stop delivery. It’s running a grassroots campaign that aims to encourage the White/Yellow Pages industry to proactively stop the delivery of books. And it is looking at ways to help municipalities and local governments around the country establish ordinances to mandate Yellow Pages and White Pages only be delivered to home and offices that ask for them.

If you’re a dedicated Yellow Pages user, just remember that when it comes time to ditch the old books, make sure they end up at a recycling center. Sites such as Earth911.com and YellowPages.com offer information on how to ensure your old phone books get recycled.

Image: Pink Moose

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