Recycling Yellow Pages

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

We and the other thousands of homes in West Oxfordshire have just had the latest copy of the yellow pages delivered. Our copy of the last one is still in the plastic cover. Does anybody know if you can opt out of receiving the yellow pages.

Widening the discussion, the phone books I believe are still difficult to recycle. In this era of the tinternet, do we still need huge phone books that get delivered to every household. I can’t remember the last time I used one. I know some people will use them, which is fine. But don’t you think it would be possible for BT and Thompson and any other phone book companies to only deliver them to people who want them.
How much energy and paper is wasted on the books that just stay unopened?
Are they already made from recycled paper is that why they are so hard to dispose of, or is it just the thickness of them.

BWD

[galanthus]

We received new yellow pages a few months ago and just recently a new phone book, as with you, last year's stayed in the plastic wrapper for months. We recycled them eventually but also wondered how we can stop receiving them in the future. Maybe bt should develop a 'phone book delivery only if requested'. Much more cost efficient and energy efficient.

[Jez]

That sounds like the way i'd like to go. We don't as yet have a bin collection that's until Sept. Our Community has to deposit it's waste at a near by Skip! Luckily theres some unknown person who collects Yellow Pages and takes them of our hands???

[thunder]

It's still a lot easier to pick up the phone book/yellow pages than it is to go upstairs, switch on the PC, log in, log in to the right website, fathom out the right boxes to fill in etc etc etc

henrya

[ron1863]

My brother's a postman and he used to hate when new phone books came out as it meant extra work for him, he said that the majority of folk don't want them as they use their mobile phones and computers to store numbers.
Our recycle area is overloaded the week after the new books arrive.

[jnb]

Originally Posted by ron1863

Our recycle area is overloaded the week after the new books arrive.

I've noticed that as well but it's the previous year's phone books which overflow the recycle bins not the new ones, which suggests that people do still want them.

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Originally Posted by jnb

I've noticed that as well but it's the previous year's phone books which overflow the recycle bins not the new ones, which suggests that people do still want them.

I have put last years out for recycling and kept this years, in its plastic wrapper, until I get the next one. I don't expect many people throw the new one away as soon as they get it. But that doesn't mean they want it or will use it.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by thunder

It's still a lot easier to pick up the phone book/yellow pages than it is to go upstairs, switch on the PC, log in, log in to the right website, fathom out the right boxes to fill in etc etc etc

henrya

even easier to dial 118247

other numbers are available but that's the only one connected to the yellow pages

[APC]

Come someone tell me why they need a plastic wrapper?

I'd never really thought about the pain in the backside that is the Yellow Pages (and the Thompson Directory and the BT Telephone Book (which happens to have all the stuff in YP and TD)).

I wonder how high you could stack them all each year?

[Paul mabbott]

I certainly don't see why we need a BT, a Virgin-Telewest and a Thompsons nor why we need them every year .... no problem here in recycling them but what a waste!

On the other points, I've never really got the hang of yell on the internet - it seems to sort entries in a biased manner, much easier to look down a page in a book.... but then, as someone else pointed out, you've got most of the ones you use regularly on your 'phone or personal address book ...

I imagine that we only use our directories half a dozen times each year ... so the computer search would be better. Indeed, I was looking up B&Q the other week and couldn't find it in the directories but easy on-line ...

So all a bit annoying, but not as bad as the numerous free papers/magazines which are basically all adverts coming round every week or month - straight into the recycling ...

QUOTE=Billy Wobble Dagger;149841]We and the other thousands of homes in West Oxfordshire have just had the latest copy of the yellow pages delivered. Our copy of the last one is still in the plastic cover. Does anybody know if you can opt out of receiving the yellow pages.

Widening the discussion, the phone books I believe are still difficult to recycle. In this era of the tinternet, do we still need huge phone books that get delivered to every household. I can’t remember the last time I used one. I know some people will use them, which is fine. But don’t you think it would be possible for BT and Thompson and any other phone book companies to only deliver them to people who want them.
How much energy and paper is wasted on the books that just stay unopened?
Are they already made from recycled paper is that why they are so hard to dispose of, or is it just the thickness of them.

BWD[/quote]