Recycling Tip: How Kane Residents Can Opt Out of Phone Books!

kanecountyconnects / May 19, 2017 / Comments Off / Environment, Government, Recycling

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series of recycling tips from Kane County Recycling Coordinator Jennifer Jarland. Got a question or idea for a recycling tip? Contact Jarland at 630-208-3841 or recycle@countyofkane.org.

Fifteen years ago, phone books were a valuable source of information. Today, not so much.

An increasing number of Kane County residents are turning to online search engines while their phone books sit unused. Unfortunately, the companies that produce yellow pages haven’t kept up with this trend — most residents continue to receive phone books on their doorsteps, sometimes multiple times per year.

Unwanted phone books are a nuisance and a waste of resources.

Each year the phone books industry uses up an estimated 4.68 million trees worth of wood fiber, or 14 football fields’ worth of forest per day.
The process of printing and delivering that unwanted phone book to your doorstep produces greenhouse gases equal to burning 8.8 pounds of coal.
Directories are a burden on local governments throughout the nation, who pay a combined $60 million annually in recycling and disposal fees for unwanted phone books.

That’s why Kane County is joining the Product Stewardship Institute in the #GetOffMyDoorstep campaign. We’re standing united to encourage residents to take three minutes to opt out of getting a phone book.