Recycling is Fine But Do We Need The Product In The First Place?





When was the last time you reached for Yellow Pages, Thomson or your local BT Telephone Directory? Yesterday, last month, last year, never? Waiting at the recycling point a couple of weekends ago I couldn't help noticing the hundreds of discarded directories and it occurred to me that if ever there was a case of supply exceeding demand or usage this was it.

Local Councils are becoming increasingly proud of the recycling services they offer, particularly when it comes to the collecting of newspapers, card, magazines etc but it strikes me that rather than recycle re could eliminate the product completely and start saving the planet at source. A million trees are cut down everywhere in the U.K to produce 14 million telephone directories which I would guess are hardly used anymore.

Wouldn't it make sense to only send out directories to those people who request them. I mean HMRC don't send out year end unsolicited PAYE forms anymore, they don't send out paper tax returns to people who have filed online why can't telephone directories operate a similar system. I know that trees will still have to be cut down for the paper mills in case there is a demand, but if the number of directories requested is down that that milled paper can be used for other items and there will be a knock on effect. Cutting down a million trees a year just to end up repulping them doesn't seem particularly 'green'.

The directory industry is aware of the dilemma, this is from their 2005 conference:

Directory publishers, sector analysts and all those involved in the sector fall into two camps. The first of these believes that directories can exist forever in their current form, with print directories providing the main source of revenue, complemented by Internet revenues. The second category predicts the end of print directories as we know them, as search engines and portals all enter the local search and advertising market, swallowing up print usage and taking revenues from directory publishers. The true picture is, as ever, likely to fall somewhere between these two views. What is certain is that usage of the Internet for searches for businesses, individuals, products, services and prices is growing at a rate which threatens to eclipse printed directory usage. What remains unclear is what the implications are for directory publishers. The winners are likely to be those that embrace change and use their strong brands and sales force assets to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by the Internet. Already, a large number of partnerships are developing between publishers and search engines or portals. The report analyses these relationships to assess their implications.

Yes, I know it sounds like something from HIGNFY guest publication but its true.

Next time you get that familiar knock on the door or at work, have a think about the number of times you've used the directories compared with the number of times you've used the internet to look up a number. Perhaps if a large enough number of directories are returned fewer might be produced the next time.