By Thea Neal and Agnieszka Speiszny
While the public condenses their lives into tiny digital devices, companies aren’t slowing down paper phone book production.
“We have all these phone books which serve more as coasters or bookends than they do as references,” said Erik Mitchell, a Michigan State University psychology senior.
Opt out of printed phone book deliveries.
Mitchell said the David Bowie Memorial Cooperative House in East Lansing receives phone books sometimes twice a year from different companies. Instead of using the books, house members look to the Internet for phone numbers.
“We recycle them sometimes, but it’s easier to just leave them on our stoop and ignore them,” he said.
Natural resources required
Phone books decay the same as other paper in landfills, but the production requires a lot of resources.
To produce 500 million phone books, 19 million trees need to be harvested and 7.2 million barrels of oil are used, according to YellowPagesGoesGreen.org, a Web site aimed at reforming the phone book delivery model. The Web site estimates there are about 540 million directories printed annually in the United States.
Critics say paper directories unneeded
When Michael Chen heard about the site on a National Public Radio broadcast, he set out as an advocate for phone-book-delivery reform.
“Companies continue to produce phone books because it’s how America has been doing it for so long,” said Chen, a San
Diego student. “Stopping production would mean completely changing the way they run their businesses. Some products of the analog generation simply do not continue with the same success in the current digital generation. You would be hard pressed to find anyone these days who uses a phone book. Most are left sitting collecting dust in the closet.”
Advocates insist they are valuable for advertisers
But what Chen says is a dust collector, AT&T says is still a prime place to advertise. The phone company is one of the largest phone book producers in the country. It publishes about 150 million phone books in 22 states. Almost nine million are distributed in Michigan, said AT&T Advertising Director Bob Mueller.
“[Phone books] drive business to small and medium businesses,” Mueller said. “If you need to find a doctor, attorney, restaurant, if your car breaks down, if you need a plumbing contractor. Some of those things are not for college-age people.”
In terms of revenue, businesses return four dollars for every one dollar invested in a phone book advertisement, according to Mueller.
Bryan Buckhave, president of Michigan Plumbing in Lansing, Mich., said the company has advertised in AT&T phone books since its inception in 1973.
It’s only a matter of time before his audience disregards phone book advertising, Buckhave said.”We know a lot of people are slowly going to back out of using them.”
Michigan Plumbing also advertises on television and the Internet. Buckhave said he would be more likely to use the Internet if older people were comfortable with it. That may be a matter of time. Eventually, Michigan Plumbing will switch to advertising solely online, he said.
Maggie Lillis hopes that day comes sooner than later. Lillis, an MSU alumna and current 23-year-old Las Vegas resident, said she uses the Internet because it’s faster than flipping through a phone book.
“I can narrow my searches faster with online resources and most times the service will provide me maps. It cuts out a step for me,” Lillis said. “Phone books that are sent to me usually end up in the recycling bin.”
Recyclers shred, bale and pulp phonebooks.
Manufacturers push for recycling
It is impossible to know how many phone books are recycled in Michigan because recycling centers are not required to collect data on them, said Matt Fletcher, recycling manager of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Minnesota is the only Great Lakes state that bans telephone directories from disposal in solid waste. Since 1992 directory publishers have been required to collect and deliver unused directories to recyclers.
To reduce phone book waste in landfills, AT&T launched Project ReDirectory in 1988, a program to encourage recycling in the United States. Other companies have similar efforts, but individuals may recycle phone books at designated drop off sites throughout the year.
Most recycling facilities within an 80-mile radius of Lansing send their recyclables to Friedland Industries for processing. The facility processes about 2,500 tons of recycled paper, said John Lancour, the company’s vice president. He estimates about 80 tons of that are phone directories.
The East Lansing center recycled an average of 16 tons of directories each year since 2004, according to Dave Smith, environmental specialist at the City of East Lansing Department of Public and Environmental Services. Granger Wood Road Recycling Drop-Off Center, in Lansing, received nine tons of phone books in 2008 and 11 tons in 2009. Both the East Lansing and the Granger facility send phone books to Friedland Industries.
“We’re the phone book and book gurus in the Tri-County area,” Lancour said.
The phone books are put through one of two machines which shred the directories and other paper into small pieces and compress them into large blocks. A phone book will last about five days at Friedland before it is processed and
Recycled phone books typically become insulation that is blown into attics.
shipped elsewhere, Lancour said. Friedland Industries is the largest paper shredder in the state, thanks to their two shredding machines which cost about $300,000 each, he said.
Lancour doesn’t just recycle the directories – he puts them to use. His delivery drivers use the local maps provided in some phone books for better local directions than those he’s been able to find on the Internet. He also still uses the books
for advertising, as Internet advertising causes an array of problems for the consumer, he said.
“You can click on something and it will link away from what you’re looking for,” he said. “You can be looking for a local company and you’ll only find something national.”
Digital divide a problem for seniors
Lancour said that the “digital divide” – the age difference in those who use phone books and those who use the Internet – puts senior citizens at a disadvantage if phone book production is minimized.
“Older people aren’t always as good with the Internet, and some people don’t even have computers,” he said. “Elder people would struggle to find phone numbers on a daily basis.”
Internet-enthusiast Lillis said there’s a better use for phone books concerning the digital divide.
“One thing phone books are good for, helping the elderly get that needed boost in height in the driver’s seat,” she laughed.