The Seattle City Council wants to cut back on the unwanted phone books that pile up on front porches and kitchen counters — somewhere between 5 and 13 pounds of them per resident every year.
“Both junk mail and the Yellow Pages are largely unwanted and a nuisance,” said Dick Lilly, a waste-reduction manager for Seattle Public Utilities.
The state requires phone companies to distribute residential listings to every household, but the state doesn’t monitor Yellow Pages, which are typically distributed, without asking, to front porches and building lobbies.
Supporters of a proposed city ordinance limiting phone-book distribution say they are frustrated with hit-and-miss voluntary programs run by the publishers. “There is massive public support for this,” said Ellie Rose, of Zero Waste Seattle.
Ursula Sandstrom, of Ballard, testified before a council committee this week that at her house, “the last time a phone book was used, the dog was chewing it.”
Full story: Local News | Seattle may limit phone-book distribution | Seattle Times Newspaper