Banning phone book litter in Seattle? Not so fast...

Last week the city of Seattle made an important step last week - it voted "on a yellow pages "opt-out" ordinance that would get rid of those phone books." It makes Seattle the first city in the country to set up an opt-out registry if you don't want to receive yellow pages.

We have discussed here before how wasteful are the Yellow/White Pages' practices ('The Yellow Pages are going green, but how about eliminating the wasteful printing in the first place?') and also compared the carbon footprint of a search on Google and a Yellow Pages directory. So any step in the right direction is a reason to be more optimistic.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure if the headline given by our friends at Treehugger to this story (Phone Book Litter Banned in Seattle, Nation's First Opt-Out City) is not a bit too optimistic. Applying Opt-out system is an important step, but it's very far from banning phone book litter. First, you can already opt out system for Yellow Pages (well, right now they're upgrading it so you can't really use it) and second, it's going to be real ban only when it will change to an opt-in system.

I'm afraid that even the most user-friendly opt-out system won't get enough people to move themselves out of the list, even in a progressive city like Seattle. If the city really wants "to allow residents to say no to the books" it should give them the freedom to choose if they want to receive these books in the first place. It's reasonable, better to the environment and will save money to the city (according to the announcement "City Councilor Mike O'Brien says unwanted yellow pages cost the Seattle $350,000 a year in recycling costs").

So I hope that the city of Seattle won't stop in launching an opt-out system and will end the current wasteful practice by creating an opt-in system to get things done. Then, we'll be able to talk about banning phone books litter in Seattle.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Good news of the weekend: No more White Pages in New York!

Last Tuesday I had a 'pleasant' surprise on my doorsteps (see photo above): a new thick copy of the local white pages, which I really didn't want and I'll never use. If printing the yellow pages is a wasteful and anachronistic practice, what can you say about the white pages? even my 95-old grandfather doesn't use them anymore!

Therefore, I was very happy to read today in the New York Times that Verizon is looking "to end the annual delivery of millions of White Pages to all of its customers in New York." Mazal Tov as we say in Hebrew!

And the savings? According to the article "the company estimates that it would save nearly 5,000 tons of paper by ending the automatic distribution of the books."

Verizon is quoting a 2008 Gallup survey saying that "only about one of every nine households uses the hard-copy listings anymore," but somehow I find it difficult to believe that we're talking about more than 10% usage. It looks to me that it's more somewhere around 1%-2% and the example brought in the article (320-unit building in New York when not even one copy was requested) demonstrates it.

I was surprised to hear that the phone companies are required by law to deliver these guides. Hence Verizon and other phone companies need to ask the regulators for a waiver. Is there any chance to see a change in this anachronistic legislation? I sure hope so.

Last but not least, this is of course a win-win move that will benefit not only the environment but also the bottom line of the publisher, SuperMedia.

Kudos to Verizon for doing the right thing. I hope you'll continue and move forward in other states as well, and don't forget Delaware. I really hope this is the last time I'll find such pleasant surprises on my doorsteps!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Mobile Phone Recycling in the UK

Today we have another guest column, this time from our friends at Recycle Mobile Phones who present their important work, facilitating mobile phone recycling.

If you are thinking about upgrading or buying a new phone, did you consider what you would do with your existing handset? In the UK, over ninety million mobile phones are hidden away in desk drawers and lie idle on desks. As a result, many new phone recycling programs have been launched to create awareness and to try to increase the number of mobile phones being recycled in the United Kingdom.

If you have just bought or upgraded your phone and want to help the environment, then the best way is to look at the many recycling companies, who will incentivise you by giving you money for your old handset. It doesn’t matter if the phone works or not, although you’ll be offered less money for it if it doesn’t work.

Note: The worst thing you can do, is to throw your old mobile phone in the bin. Mobile phones contain several toxins such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic along with others, we do not need to contaminate our landfills or pollute the soil, air and water supplies by doing this.

Many times, these old mobile phones are in good working order so you just need to go onto a mobile phone recycling comparison site, which helps you to save time and earn money by searching for your make and model of phone. You will then see the prices that the recycling companies will offer and if you are happy with the price quoted, you can then complete the simple online form and then post your old phone to the recycling company, such as envirofone and then wait for your payment.

The recycled phones, which are in working condition, can simply be used by others , such as people who are less fortunate or indeed they can be sent to other countries to help developing worlds. The nonworking phones can be fixed or used to fix other phones, which can then be used for others. Reusing all the usable components and recycling the metals in the handset, lowers the need for new raw materials, as well as lowering the impact on mining for metals on the environment and wildlife.

For more information on recycling mobile phones and for our manufacturer list, please visit, http://www.recyclemobilephones.co.uk

Green Options - Zumbox: A Viable Paper Mail Killer?

As part of Eco-Libris' ongoing content partnership with Green Options Media, we feature a post that was originally published by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg on February 27 on Sustainablog. Today's post is about a new creative online service called Zumbox.

What are the environmental costs of “snail mail?” That’s easy, right: paper-based mail has a massive footprint when one takes into account the harvesting of trees, the production of paper, and the disposal of much of what we receive in our mail boxes.

What’s the answer? Electronic mail… right?

Well... maybe. If you have someone's email address, or can easily find it, email as currently configured does provide a viable alternative. But, ever tried to email everyone on your block? If you're a marketer, ever tried to simply email everyone on your snail mail list? For the most part, unless you've taken steps to gather those email addresses, you can't complete these tasks: email addresses have no immediate connection to a physical address.

Enter Zumbox, a start-up based in the Los Angeles area. Their solution to the paper-email dilemma: create an electronic mailbox for every physical mailing address in the United States.

Do The Green Thing on June - recycle so it will be reborn!

Every month we update you on the monthly green recommendation of our friends at 'Do The Green Thing'. This month they offer you to do the recycled/reborn thing.

What does it mean? The Green Thing team ask you to recycle everything you possibly can for one day this month and they explain:

"When you chuck something away, you’re effectively slamming the door in its face, calling its mother something unpleasant and saying you never want to see it again. But the thing is, you will see it again - and rather than being something useful like before, this time it’ll be something noxious. Maybe it’ll have turned into a greenhouse gas after decomposing in a landfill site – or perhaps it’ll come back as acid rain after being incinerated.

Either way, you’ve killed it before its time and it will haunt you like some kind of vengeful, pollution-spewing poltergeist. Which is why this month’s Green Thing is to recycle everything you possibly can for one day. Make sure your rubbish ends up Reborn as something new and beautiful instead of trashing our environment."

Here's someone who is doing it quite often - Jesse Hackett aka Elmore Judd goes to a recycling centre, picks up some random bits of metal and wood, uses them to make some amazing instruments and then uses them to make some amazing music. Filmed by the talented, willing and helpful people at Firecracker Films (www.myspace.com/elmorejudd, http://www.firecrackerfilms.com/)


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!