Chris's Sharebook 

Every year, phone companies distribute 147 million phone books to consumers in compliance with state laws. As more and more consumers use the Internet to look up business and residential information, these books are becoming increasingly unnecessary. As the listings change little from year to year, many consumers without Internet access find the annual deliveries annoying and wasteful.

Printing and delivering phone books is costly, but state laws require phone companies to distribute them to everyone with a landline. Due to the unwieldy size of these books, most consumers throw away old versions with each new delivery. According to a survey conducted by WhitePages (an online directory unrelated to the printed books), fewer than 16% of respondents recycle their old phone books.

Recycling phone books costs taxpayers an estimated $17 million per year. The majority of books, which aren’t recycled, clutter up homes or build up in landfills and dumping grounds. Most consumers do not want or need regular phone book deliveries. Please sign the petition to allow consumers to opt out of receiving phone books.