San Francisco Protesters Return 1,500 Unwanted Phone Books to AT&T

Almost 11,000 people around the country have said they don't want to receive a Yellow Pages unless they want one. Yesterday, a group of San Fransisco residents really hammered home that point.

Evidence the photo to the left and the pile of 1,500 unwanted phone directories they returned to AT&Ts San Francisco headquarters.

The protest event was organized by PhonebookFree SF, a group of San Francisco residents who are fed up with the extreme waste of the printed phone book.

Before the event, Lloyd Nimetz, the event's organizer, said: "we will be dumping thousands of phonebooks on the front steps of phonebook companies...to do to them what's done to us several times a year. It will be very interesting to see how they like it."

It turns out AT&T didn't like it at all. AT&T's spokesman was actually quite unhappy with the negative publicity (see media reports here, here, here, and here). He eventually called Mr. Nimetz to tell him so himself.

"[Yesterday] was quick, simple and absolutely awesome. We pulled off a nice little act of civil disobedience, didn't get arrested or any fine and it was successful in showing the press and the world that San Franciscans care about this issue," Mr. Nimetz said.

The unwanted phone books were collected from residents last year, when California was considering statewide legislation that would end wasteful phone book distribution. The bill eventually got spiked by industry lobbying. Mr. Nimetz decided to use them for the demonstration today, as San Francisco considers a similar bill that would require companies receive opt-in permission before dumping the books.

Ironically, the 1,500 phone books still don't have a home. San Francisco residents clearly didn't want them. Neither did AT&T—which refused to accept the delivery. Since they did not have a permit for the event, police actually made them move the phone books off AT&T's property and onto the sidewalk.

After the event, the group put all 1,500 books in the back of a U-Haul and brought them to a recycling facility. The recycling facility didn't even want them. The phone books are so heavy they mess up the system's conveyor belts. In the end, the phone books headed back home with Mr. Nimetz.

What a waste of paper. And money. (The city estimates it spends $1 million a year on phone book disposal and recycling).

On Monday, the Land Use committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the legislation, sponsored by Supervisor David Chiu, for San Francisco's Yellow Pages opt-in ordinance. The Board of Supervisors plans the full vote for next week, March 29th.

Keep signing the petition to show your support—whether you live in San Francisco, Kansas City, Boston or anywhere else.

The protesters brought this Change.org petition with them to AT&T's doorstep, which 11,000 of you across the country have signed (including almost 1,500 San Franciscans, and almost 3,000 Californians). AT&T and other phone directory companies are part of a $15 billion industry that makes money by basically spamming people's front doors. The industry is fighting this and similar efforts to curtail wanton Yellow Pages distribution in a growing number of cities and states across the country. San Francisco could soon become the first city in the U.S. to successfully pass an opt-in ordinance.  We need to continue to show that people don't want this waste.

"Americans should have the freedom of choice when it comes to receiving phonebooks. This is an important issue that touches every San Franciscan and American.   With your help over the next couple of weeks, SF will be the first city in the USA to pass this ordinance.  Our efforts here will open the flood-gates to change throughout the country," Mr. Nimetz said.

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