How many do you need?
Did you recycle them? or trash them?
Some people still need phone books -- Some people just like them.
With the internet and the wireless communciation revolution, we have changed the way we access telephone directories.
But some people do not have access to computers or cell phones or PDAs- they should get the phone books they need. They should be able to choose the phone books they want or need.
And the rest of us??? Do you really need 15 phonebooks from 3 different companies-- that's right--this year I got 15 phonebooks from 3 companies. What a waste of resources?
The phonebook companies say that the books are referenced 13-18 billion times a year- if there are 300 million people in the US, then every man, woman, and child would use a phonebook 43-60 times a year--about once a week. Just let us choose if we want them ! What's wrong with letting us choose?
615 million books-- sounds like a lot. How many is that?
If we stack them on top of each other-- then 615 million x 2 in each average size = 1,230,000,000 inches
1,230,000,000 inches / 12 = 102,500,000 ft
102,500,000 ft / 5280 ft per mile = 19412.88 miles
Let's place them end to end.
615 miilion books x 11 inches long each = 6,765,000,000 inches
6,765,000,000 inches / 12 = 563,750,000 ft
563,750,000 ft / 5280 ft per mile = 106,770 miles
500 phone books take:-- according to a study in California
17 to 31 trees- depending on how much is new paper and how is recyclyed paper
4100 kwh (a 3 bdrm house in Colorado uses about 600 -1500 kwh per month-- so that about 3-6 months of electricity)
7000 gallons of water ( thats about 14 gallons of water per book - Gee, I thought we were trying to cut back on wasting water).
Then --how many gallons of gasoline for the delivery trucks? Gas for the trash trucks? Gas for the recycling trucks?
So-- how much did we use for 615 million phonebooks ? -- Well, thats about 1.23 million times each of the numbers above -- in just one year. Two years ago they only produced 450 million phonebooks..
Then the phonebook companies would only have to print the books we needed.
We would not get a pile of unwanted books. We would not have to take them to the recyclying center. We would not have to take them to the trash bin.
Cities would not have to use up space in the land fill.
The people who want phonebooks just request them -- on post cards-- on the internet.
Then the rest of us would NOT get them.
Your local government and the trash companies would not have to process all the extra waste. Your tax dollars at work??
Recyclying centers would not be overwhelmed by this source of junk paper -- the lowest grade paper - from which phone books are made.
The ones that get recycled are such poor quality paper that very few are recyclyed into new phonebooks. If they are recycled, new paper fibers must be added to the mix for the phone book paper. Some cities don't recycle phonebooks. Some only recycle them during certain months.
Some are recycled into Kitty litter, cellulose insulation, hazard waste absorbant--some are burned for fuel.
What about the yellow plastic bags they come in? What about the sticky magnets on the cover?
Who knows -- I could not find anyone to recycle this stuff.
And the new phone books-- How many new trees are used? How much is recycled material ?
Here is one phonebook cover from the 2008 Dex book-- (Dex is one of the few stating their recyclying content.)
But another way of saying this is -- OVER 75% is new paper. Most directories just have a page saying they are concerned. They don't even mention how much recycled paper is used.
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Send us your name and email -- include any stories about phonebooks in your area. We will have more information posted here soon.
Stopthephonebooks.com is a Denver Colorado Citizens' initiative to research and promote a more efficient way to get phone books to only the citizens who want them.
We will keep you informed about our efforts in Denver. We must work together on a local level.
