With knowledge that many businesses in Seattle advertise in the yellow pages, and that many are shifting away from this medium to online and alternative print sources, Seattle City Councilmember Mike O’Brien is working on a proposal to create a yellow pages opt-out system for the city. The system is designed to allow residents who don’t want to receive yellow pages phone books to choose not to receive them, and would require publishers to honor the opt-out requests.
The goal is to better connect people who want and use yellow pages phone books with the books, and to eliminate the unwanted ones from our waste stream.
In a recent blog post from Councilmember Mike O’Brien, he writes “(City) Council is considering yellow pages phonebook legislation to address unwanted phonebooks and the waste that they create. The options under consideration include a mandatory opt-out system, an advanced recovery fee for phonebook companies, or an opt-in system where phone books would only be distributed to a customer if that customer first elects to receive them.”
Read the rest of Councilmember Mike O’Brien’s blog posts on the topic from June 23rd and July 20th.
View media coverage from KOMO here.
