Telephone books are a handy resource for residents needing the phone number of a neighbor or a list of local service providers. For businesses, especially those that provide goods and services to consumers locally, phone directories offer an effective way to reach potential customers. Telephone books, however, represent significant tonnage in the waste stream (660,000 tons per year). In recent years, the number of phone books delivered to households and businesses has increased, with two or more competing companies now publishing and distributing books in similar or overlapping geographic areas. Most residents and businesses lack a way to “opt out” of receiving those they don’t want. In addition, phone book recycling presents challenges. Phone books are made with a low grade of paper, and are sometimes distributed with materials that become contaminants in the recycling process (e.g., magnets and plastics), which represents a problem for certain end-use applications. Local governments currently bear costs to recycle and/or dispose of phone books, and some areas experience limited or absent opportunities to recycle. Regardless of the relative availability of recycling options, source reduction is an environmentally efficient approach that cuts across all scenarios.
