Wasted Paper by the Ton

I am not generally a big fan of Star Tribune writer James Lileks, but the headline on his column today caught my eye because I have often thought the same thing.

I'll quote the first couple of paragraphs, too:

Phone Books: Paper Slabs of Nostalgia, Delivered to Your Door

This was the week the phone books came out: 967 pounds of unrequested pulp. I know some people still use the phone book, and don't like dialing up AOL and e-mailing that Craig fellow with the list, or whatever kids do today.

I understand. If you want one, you should have one. But for some, having a human being physically schlep the ginormous phone book to your door is like having someone show up at your house with a slab of ice over his shoulder. Hello, I'm from the previous century. Need anything? No. Well, could I print off the Internet for you? No.

Unbelievably, it is not possible to tell the phone company that you don't want phone books delivered to you.

This is, of course, because of the Yellow Pages, with their "guaranteed" circulation, for which advertisers are expected to pay dearly and yearly. I have not used the Yellow Pages in at least five years. And it just about breaks my heart when that big pile of paper shows up on my doorstep.

The only good thing is that I can donate it to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, where the pages are used to clean ink off of presses. Which means MCBA doesn't have to buy virgin paper to accomplish the same task.