Ken Clark raises a good point about the source material used to create phone books these days. They’re not exactly mowing down virgin forests to make the things. He thinks the industry could do a better job promoting this fact:

But I don’t blame the public for their lack of understanding, I blame the industry. How would someone know about how recycled white material, wood chips, and even some good old fashion trash are the sources of the content/fiber that makes up the pages of the a phone book – we’ve never bothered to tell anyone about it which is really perplexing at a time every industry is shouting about its environmental efforts.

That is a good point. Of course, a phone directory that’s delivered to a property that has no interest in using it, or no residents (such as foreclosures) is still a complete waste, and a tax burden to dispose of.

Ken, of course, plays the opt-out card to explain that it’s a non-issue, but I’ve never seen a foreclosed house make a phone call to 1, 2, or 3 yellow pages directory companies. Ken is also well aware of the issues I’ve had with yellow pages directory companies not actually honoring the opt-out requests they’ve received. A yellow pages directory sent to my home is wasteful no matter what is used for materials.

Ken also seems to be forgetting that a huge percentage of phone books are delivered in plastic bags.

And Ken seems to be suggesting that the ONLY thing remnant wood chips and recycled paper could possibly be used for is phone books. It’s as is the YP industry is doing is a service by converting piles of wood chips into yellow pages which we an then send to recycling centers or landfills.

At some point, I think Ken will begin to understand that REDUCE comes before REUSE or RECYCLE. He’s not there yet. A person that thinks YP opt-in policies are the radical thinking of a “few obtuse paper jihadists” still has a way to go before reaching the reality based community.