The Local Government Association (LGA) has called on householders across the country to wage a war on needless phone directories as they take note of the ‘Say No To Phonebooks’ campaign analysis that revealed it costs £7.5m a year for taxpayers to clear up the mess of phonebooks. You can read the full release here where the LGA explains that the ’£7.5m spent collecting and disposing of phone directories could pay for 491 teaching assistants or 259 social workers, or it could be spent filling in approximately 108,700 potholes’. Surely a much more worthwhile cause?
While this latest announcement has been picked up by the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, we think it’s worth us responding to Age Concern in the Daily Telegraph article. The ‘Say No To Phonebooks’ campaign is calling for a system where printed directories are be available only on request and not delivered automatically. This will balance the need for directory access for the elderly with environmental and government expenditure concerns.
Over the weekend, Junk Buster have reported thousands more people have contacted Yell, Thomson & BT to ask to be excluded from future phonebook deliveries. To take action today, sign up on JunkBuster’s site and sign our petition on the Downing St website. Time is running out to sign the Downing St petition so forward the link on to all your friends and colleagues to make your voice heard.
Earlier this month, Yellow Pages announced it was going to reduce the size of its directory for the first time in 40 years. A result of reduced listings and increased environmental concerns no doubt. Yell also claims that ‘its reduced height and width means it will be small enough to fit through standard size letter boxes at households and businesses’. Well, if you’re going to do that Mr Delivery Man, please respect the sticker on my mailbox that says ‘No Junk Mail Please’. Although I’m starting to think even the delivery guys agree with us….
Say What to Phonebooks????
In an article in The Independent in December entitled “Everyday products made obsolete during the “aughts”, the paper comments,
“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
Like us, we’re sure that many of you are watching the most recent series of Gavin and Stacey and it’s great to see that the sentiment of the Say No To Phonebooks campaign has filtered into popular TV Culture.
In episode 3, when looking for the details of a curry house, Pamela (or Pamelaaaaarrrr as Smithy would say) says
“I don’t know why they keep sending those yellow pages, our last three are still in the plastic. We just use the internet now if we want to find anything!” (12 minutes and 50 seconds)
Nicely said Pamela.
Watch the episode on the BBC iplayer
When was the last time you used a printed phonebook?
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/
Research released today shows that three quarters (75%) of Britain’s school children believe that phonebooks should only be delivered to those that ask for them.
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!
One of Britians best known internet magazines has reported on the success of the Say No To Phonebooks campaign saying,
“A petition to scrap phonebooks is the best-supported environmental campaign on the Downing Street website only three weeks after its launch.”
“Over 5,500 people have already signed the petition, which is more than for a petition campaigning against a third runway at Heathrow.”
Read the article on the Webuser website
For those people wanting to know how to get their directory enquiry searches for free online, read the lastest guidance on the 192.com blog: http://blog.192.com/
In just three weeks since the launch of the campaign the e-petition on the Downing Street website (http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NoPhonebooks/) has become the most supported environmental petition, even overtaking a petition calling for a stop to Heathrow’s third runway! The petition has reached 26th position in the full list of more than 4,500 petitions running on the site demonstrating the widespread support of the British people. The ‘Say No To Phonebooks’ petition has already accumulated over 5,500 signatures, a number that is growing daily.
We are now looking to gain the support of UK school children by working in partnership with Intuitive Media, an award-winning safe social learning network provider. In a survey of school children on SuperClubsPlus.com and GoldStarCafe.com, 83% said they were very concerned about the environment and 85% said that phone books should only be sent to those who ask for them. The campaign has challenged these kids to find the best alternative use for unwanted phonebooks whether that be through sculptures, structures or other creative concepts.
Since the launch of the campaign a number of leading UK councils have also offered their support to the campaign including Hammersmith & Fulham, Kingston Council and Wandsworth Council.The video has also already had more than 2500 views on YouTube and there have been lively discussions on the Facebook fan page engaging hundreds of campaign fans.
We need more support to make things happen so please get your friends and family to sign the petition!
The Daily Mail’s own Green Queen has today said that the Say No To Phonebooks campaign could help save the environment,
“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
