08 - Phone Book Industry Status Report Protecting our community's health and the environment by provid ing solid waste and sewer collection services. www.cmsdca.gov Costa Mesa Sanitary District ….an Independent Special District Memorandum T o: Operations Committee Via : Scott Carroll , General Manager From: Javier Ochiqui, Management Analyst Date: December 11 , 2012 Subject: Status Report on the phon e book industry from Catalog Choice Summary S taff contacted Catalog Choice, the vendor that offers free service to stop unwanted mail, to help determine the printing status of the tele phone book industry and how it relates to t he District’s Telephone Book Recycling Program. Below are staff findings. Staff Recommendation That the Operations Committee receive and file this report. Analysis In the US, t elephone books represent only 0.3 percent of the solid waste stream (comp ared to 3.2 percent for newspapers and 2.2 percent to office paper). T he Environmental Protection Agency stopped measuring telephone books separately and included them with news print since they only make up a minor portion of paper in the waste stream. A ccording to Catalog Choice, the Local Search Association, formally the Yellow Pages Association that helps local businesses get found and selected by ready -to -buy consumers just released the ir 2012 Sustainability Report . A key finding from the report is a projection by the Pulp and Paper Products Council that source reductions will drive a 50% reduction in paper use for print directories by the end of 2012 compared to 2007. The report notes that th is reduction is being driven by changes in directory sizing, more efficient manufacturing, an industry effort to reduce printed residentia l white pages, and consumer choice website such as YellowPagesOptOut.c om and Catalog Choice. Below is a chart illustrating the decrease of phone books in tons:
Operations Committee December 11 , 201 2 Page 2 of 3 1,012 915 721 663 524 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Directory Paper Source Reduction Total consumption of paper used in the production of directories in "thousands" of tons Source: Pulp and Paper Products Council Source Reduction=+50% A 50 percent reduction in the industry does not correspond to 50 percent fewer volumes of phone books . Volumes are certainly down sub stantially ; approximately 400 million from over 600 million in 2007. However, phone books are continuing to be delivered at home, but are smaller and increasingly without residential white pages. Staff will continue to monitor the District’s Telephone B ook Recycling Program to determine if a correlation exists in the reduction of printed paper for phone books. Strategic Plan Element & Goal This item complies with the objective and strategy of Strategic Element 2.0, Solid Waste, which states: “Objectiv e: Our objective is to manage the collection and recycling of residential trash in the most economical and environmentally friendly way.” “Strategy : We will do this by looking for ways to improve efficiencies, achieve high customer satisfaction, and consi dering prudent new recycling methods.” Legal Review Not applicable at this time . Financial Review Not applicable at this time . Public Notice Process Copies of this report are on file and will be included with the complete agenda packet for the Decembe r 11 , 2012 Operations Committee meeting at District Headquarters and posted on the District’s website.
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