Mar 21 - Yellow Pages Ordinance To Be Considered in SF Hearing Today

Update: The Land Use Committee unanimously recommended approval. Next, it will be heard by the full board on March 29th. Thank you to all the supporters who showed up to the meeting or sent in letters.

Today at 1pm, there will be a public hearing in San Francisco on Supervisor Chiu’s ordinance to stop unwanted Yellow Pages distribution in the City. The Land Use Commission hearing is set for 1pm in City Hall, Room 250. CAW will be there in support of the ordinance. Follow us on Twitter and stay tuned for updates about the hearing.

SF receives 1.6 million yellow pages phone books per year - 7 million pounds of paper waste per year. Even if old phone books are recycled, the carbon footprint for their distribution and disposal is significant. According to U.S. EPA, not producing a phone book reduces carbon emissions almost two and a half times as much as recycling a phone book. If half as many Yellow Pages were produced for San Francisco residents, nearly 6,180 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions would be saved every year.

The Yellow Pages legislation is not a ban on phone books - it is about honoring consumer preference. The ordinance would establish a 3-year pilot require that requires Yellow Page distributors or publishers to confirm that delivery is desirable before leaving yellow pages in a doorway for a resident who is not at home. Confirmation can be done by phone, by mail, or by leaving a notice of attempted delivery.

Read the fact sheet and see what you can do to stop phone book waste.