192.com and the ‘Say No To Phonebooks’ campaign have teamed up with origami expert, Mark Bolitho, to provide three easy to follow guides that make use of those unwanted phonebooks by creating origami Christmas Tree, Star and Angel decorations.

To download the instructions and to watch the videos visit the origami decorations page.

So don’t just throw your useless phonebooks away! Why not get the kids or your colleagues involved and make something fun this festive season.

Over 75 million printed phonebooks are produced and delivered in the UK every year. That’s 62,000 tons of unwanted waste!

Did you know that the annual production of phonebooks squanders:
• Enough electricity to power 59,000 homes for a year
• 680,000 barrels of oil (the annual consumption of 67,000 people)
• Two billion litres of water, enough to fill 800 Olympic swimming pools
• £7.5 million of council waste management budget

The production and recycling process for 62,000 tons of phonebooks equates to 79,360 metric tonnes of wasted carbon emissions!

Make a stand against this unnecessary waste of resources and sign the petition supporting a centralised opt-in system for phonebooks. The petition already has over 6700 signatures with that number growing daily.- http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoPhonebooks/

The campaign has teamed up with Intuitive Media, award-winning safe social network provider, on their sites SuperClubsPlus.com and GoldStarCafe.net to survey almost 3,000 school children aged 6-14 years old*. The children have voiced their concerns by producing poems, writing articles and drawing pictures that help them to share their opinions on the waste caused by unwanted phonebooks.

Results from the survey also showed that 70% of kids think we are all responsible for climate change while 71% believe that as a nation we produce too much waste.

The children expressed their feelings on the waste caused by phonebooks including
• “Only give phonebooks to those who want them”
• “Stop making phonebooks. Only produce products on demand”
• “Produce less things we really don’t use”
• “Wasting less phonebooks is just a start”
• “Make everyone order a phonebooks each year and specify which one they would like to receive”

Carole Fletcher, MD, Intuitive Media says “This campaign has really caught the interest of the children, many of whom feel very strongly about wasting natural resources. This is one small step that will make a huge difference.” 

Dominic Blackburn, Product Director 192.com comments “These findings go to show that this generation is growing up with the internet and simply does not understand the need for outdated media like printed directories.”

To make better use of the millions of unwanted phonebooks in the UK school children are taking part in a competition to make papier mache sculptures and models out of the pages from unwanted phonebooks. The competition will be judged by celebrity green campaigner Dick Strawbridge and the winner will win a prize for their school.

The campaign petition on the Downing St website already has over 6,500 signatures making it the most supported environmental campaign on the petition website.

Support the campaign and sign the petition!

We are very proud to be shortlisted for the ‘Say No to Phonebooks’ campaign at these prestigious awards, as we continue to promote online directories as a much greener alternative to old phonebooks. It’s a fantastic endorsement of our campaign. Fingers crossed we do well at the award ceremony tomorrow.