More info on telephone directory waste

Lelo in Nopo posted another great comment on my blog, this time on my January 6th entry entitled, Qwest DEX telephone directories: 2,162 pages of waste.

Hey, I just came across this information and thought you'd be interested. It sounds like there's some good effort towards stopping this incredible waste.

Check out the work of the Product Stewardship Institute and the project with King County in Washington:
Product Stewardship Institute > Phone Books

First of all, I have to say that I'm glad my home turf of King County (home to Seattle) is getting some good press. Federal Way, a giant strip mall of a town with a what-were-they-thinking name, situated between Seattle and Tacoma, garnered some rare national attention when a nut-case parent by the name of Frosty Hardison, a father of seven, successfully lobbied the school district to ban the film An Inconvenient Truth. Of course, he had a very sound argument:

"No you will not teach or show that propagandist Al Gore video to my child, blaming our nation -- the greatest nation ever to exist on this planet -- for global warming," Hardison wrote in an e-mail to the Federal Way School Board. The 43-year-old computer consultant is an evangelical Christian who says he believes that a warming planet is "one of the signs" of Jesus Christ's imminent return for Judgment Day.

(Uh oh, did I digress? Psychopath, delusional fathers of extremely unfortunate (and no doubt equally embarrassed) children will get me going every time... ANYWAY...)

Lelo pointed me to an organization that's doing more than just whine (like yours truly)—they're working "to develop a national solution to the problem of unwanted phone books."

Led by King County (Washington) and the National Waste Prevention Coalition, PSI successfully leveraged funding from over 10 federal, state, and local government agencies and began work on this issue in July 2006... This project is focused primarily on source reduction, and only secondarily on increasing the recycling infrastructure.

The Product Stewardship Institute page on the Phone Book Project has a few links to press coverage—including a video clip about phone book waste from the Far Out Extremist (FOX) right-wing propaganda machine.

Gore Film Sparks Parents' Anger | The Washington Post

Technorati Tags: birth control, evangelical, Federal Way, global warming, media, neoconservatism, overpopulation, politics, religion, science, recycling

Comments

[James Allen]

Steve, I saw your not all that impressed with DEX. It seems what you have stated is correct in so many areas about the phone books in general. Some interesting news to share with you, I'll cut out most of the details. I have a retail business that we have been advertising with Dex in for years. It appears since they are under new ownership, RH Donnelly, that the sales people are beyond slimey. Recently they actually trapped me in a portland ad. This ad is only $700.00 a month. When I got a new sales rep., this person was oh so nice and helpful, got me to entertain expanding into the Portland phone book, which I did entertain it but the rep told me in order to move forward I would need to voice verify this deal. I guess I put too much trust in someone I thought was a "rep" in so being for their customers and companies best interest, lesson learned. The rep had suggested getting coop dollars from a company I sell for. Well, that didn't work out. I had asked to cancel this ad as it wouldn't be possible. I was never even told the deadline. So then was told sorry too late. I went through management levels, that worked. It was like a car deal! Then I called customer service and was told no problem their was plenty of time. The guy said he would put blocks all over the ad. I asked if he was sure. He said yes no problem, apparently this was a common situation. I contacted customer service again the next day and yes verified this had all been taken care of. I sent a letter to the corporate office stating cancellation & my experience then sent another certified mail. I didn't hear anything further. Earlier in November I decided to follow up with them about this situation. Contacted someone high up apparently. They had an assistant contact me a week or so later. This person was going to check into all this and get back to me in a few days. A few weeks later I was left a message from this person stating that yes the ad was printed however when it came out I could call back when I get my bill and they would make concessions. What's interesting as well is that the "ad" itself was never approved by me or the company I sell for. They just made up what they wanted. In light of all this and in educating myself more on the internet, I've decided on internet advertising for the most part from here on out. Actually Dex is probably to thank. I would really caution other businesses in advertising with dex at all. The business practices of the sales representatives they have in place are inappropriate to say the least. Have a good one!