We’re pleased the Government acknowledged that an opt-in system would “help reduce the burden on resources and the environmental impact.” However No.10  also said there are no Government regulations relating to our proposal, suggesting we take our argument to Ofcom. That’s exactly what we’ll do, but we won’t stop pressuring the Government to cut back on phonebook-waste and the burden of clearing up unwanted phone books on cash-stricken councils.  While we welcome Downing Street’s sentiment we now want action, and watch this space as the Say No To Phonebooks Campaign gathers pace.

From implementing a centralised opt-out facility to charging directory publishers a fee for every book it distributes, this City Council has identified that the cost of recycling the directories shouldn’t necessarily be their burden to carry.  

It seems now, more than ever, the LGA should put the onus on publishers to ensure directories are only delivered to those people that actually want them.  It saves council funds & saves the environment. What are they waiting for?

“Phone books: a large waste of paper, considering mobile phones are not listed, and information is accessible online, plus more.”

These are our thoughts exactly!

To see the full article click here

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!

“Did you know that the 75million phone books delivered annually to UK households use up to 62,000 tons of paper?

So hurrah to 192.com’s Say No To Phonebooks campaign, which aims to establish an opt-in system to save waste.”

Read the article on the Daily Mail website

“But the point about this particular campaign is that it is pointing out that a significant percentage of people (including me – and, yes, I will now be opting out, now that I know about it) don’t want these things left on their doorstep. Whereas with a newspaper I ‘opt in’ by going into a newsagent and buying one – they are not left on my doorstep unwanted alongside all the other junk mail we have to put up with. (Of course, there is a debate to had about the distribution method of freesheets.) Personally, I think this opt-in idea for phonebooks is a good one – a bit like why people are arguing for organ donations to be operated (sorry) on an opt-out basis. It just makes sense. Period.”

Read his full original article including some interesting comments from his readers at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/13/number-up-yellow-pages

If you want to make a difference, sign the e-petition now: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoPhonebooks/

You can also watch this directly on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg4VEKqQvNc

You’re welcome to add this viral to your own website to help spread the world about the totally unnecessary waste of natural resources that goes into unwanted phonebooks. Find instructions in the top right hand corner our YouTube page.

Quiet yes, but not out, and this piece of news in The Guardian yesterday was too important not to share: “Paper price collapse blows hole in Britain’s recycling strategy“. 

So the report goes, the price paid by the Far East for paper recycling has fallen so much that it may no longer be viable to ship this waste off for re-processing. The only other option? Incineration or landfill!

Well there’s 75 million tonnes of phonebooks we could stop producing right now to save such a cost to local councils but more importantly, the earth. If only households had a right to say no!

Before we started this campaign we did a quick straw poll of all the offices in our  building asking whether they used phonebooks anymore. Only 3 out of our 8 corporate neighbours could even find phonebooks in their office. 2 out of the 3 that could find a secret stash of phonebooks, still had them in their original protective plastic and the other one had phonebooks dating back to 2005!

So no surprises then when, this morning, with a number of shop fronts doors still sporting their shiny new phonebooks one owner had sent theirs directly to the rubbish pile. No point taking it inside for that business! If that’s not a case for making phonebooks opt-out, I don’t know what is…

An unopened phonebook dropped straight on the rubbish pile!