The Seattle City Council voted 8-1 Monday to create a registry for residents who no longer wish to receive the yellow pages phone books. Though current opt-out systems exist from distributors, Seattle has become the first city in the United States to pass formal legislation.
This legislation is part of what the city call's it's responsibility to "develop and implement aggressive and effective waste reduction and source separation strategies," and reaffirms the long-term goal of achieving 70% recycling.
Part of the legislation includes a fee to distributors who deliver yellow pages to those on the no-delivery registry, in addition to charging distributors to recycle unused books. Seattle Public Utilities estimates that nearly 2 million books are delivered annually in Seattle, costing $350,00 to recycle.
Council Member Mike O'Brien said an overwhelming number of Seattleites do not want to receive phone books. “Creating a one-stop shop managed by a third party will help reduce
clutter, increase residential security, and, save Seattle Public
Utilities customers, the people of Seattle, money," said O'Brien, "It's a win-win for Seattle."
This seems like an "no-brainer" type of legislation, and that's reflected in the 8-1 voting line by the city council. With everything online, it seems increasingly unnecessary for individual people to receive a new phone book every year (especially in major urban areas like Seattle that have lots of listings).
You could argue this law is unnecessary because the individual distributors have their own opt-out registries, but certainly consolidating into a single list is easier for everyone, and it sets up a revenue stream for the city in the form of fees and taxes on the distributors.
What do you think, is this a step every city in America should follow? Is Seattle leading the way? Are phone books really unnecessary in an increasingly online world? Do current opt-out registries make this law unnecessary? Share your thoughts below.