Valley Curbside Recycling

That’s right - CATAUUPB.  That’s easy to say, isn’t it - rolls right off the tongue?

We made the name up, but we did want to bring attention to the fact that phone books are just piling up and something needs to be done about.  Look around the house - how many phone books do you have?  I just did a quick scan and found three in my house, and I’m 100% certain that I’ve opened none of them.  In the New River Valley alone there are at least four companies producing phone books - what do we need all of those for??

A reader emailed us to tell us about YellowPagesGoesGreen.org, a movement to stop the unnecessary accumulation of unused phone books.  You can check out their website, and hit up the Opt Out feature that - they say - will stop publishers from sending you the books.  With this fad called the Internet gaining momentum, we think it’s a good idea … you can find just about anyone and anything on the Web, so why not use it?  We signed up, we’d encourage you to check out their site when you have a minute for even more tips.

Some interesting facts they offer:

• 540 Million directories are printed annually in the United States - 1.79 books per person*
• It requires 24 fully developed trees, 7000 gallons of water, and 380 gallons of oil, to make a ton of paper

*Estimated population in the United States as of July 2007 – 301,130,947.

Still think a service like this doesn’t make a difference?  Every little bit counts.