Apr 13 - SF Postpones Yellow Page Ordinance for Economic Impact Review

In March, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to postpone the approval of an ordinance which would require the city’s residents to opt-in to Yellow Pages phone books before distribution. The ordinance was set to begin on May 1, 2012, but recently the Board has decided to postpone that date until the ordinance’s economic effect can be evaluated.

An article by the San Francisco Appeal highlights some of the factors which lead to the Board’s decision to initiate the review.

At the end of the day, however, it is unlikely that the economic study will actually defer the implementation date of the ordinance. With the program’s start date over a year away, the city’s economists should be able to complete their study well before their deadline.

CAW has expressed support for the ordinance, and will continue to support the bill through its evaluation. Many of the reasons to support the measure are environmental, including the reduction of carbon emissions through decreased production, but many reasons make economic sense as well, including:

1. San Franciscans pay $300 per ton to pick up and recycle Yellow Pages phone books, totaling $750,000 a year to divert the books from landfills.
2. San Francisco Recology, the city’s recycling servicer, uses additional manual handling and pre-sorting machines to dispose of phone books correctly, leaving the taxpayers to pick up the tab.

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