Jun 9 - Verizon To Stop Distributing White Pages
Today, the California Public Utilities Commission heard and approved Verizon's request to stop distributing White Pages.
Resolution T-17302 allows Verizon to stop the automatic distribution of White Pages, and only deliver upon the request of the customer (opt-in). Customers will still have the option of receiving a printed directory, or customers could ask for a CD-ROM. Also, all White Pages listings will be accessible through an online directory hosted by Verizon. All three options would be free.
Every year, approximately 6 million White Pages telephone books (52 million pages) are delivered to Verizon customers in California whether the customers want them or not. If we lined up each page, end to end, it equals 45 trips to the moon. Many people immediately dump them into a recycle bin or the trash. If customers had the option of saying "No Thanks" to the delivery of these books, we could eliminate about 1,870 tons of paper a year from clogging our waste and recycling streams and reduce 7,293 tons of CO2 from the environment.
Permitting this alternative not only make economic sense for California and taxpayers, but also ecological sense to a state which has traditionally prided itself in leading the nation in sustainability and green efforts.