How Residents Can Opt Out of Yellow Pages

Before he was elected to the City Council, noticed the way Yellow Pages would lay in piles on residents' driveways for months, waiting to be picked up by a snowplow or to collapse in the rain.

The councilman knew these phone books often went straight from residents' doorsteps to their dumpsters. 

"It resonated with me," Naftzger said.

On Feb. 13, the councilman voted with the rest of the City Council to adopt a resolution that should make it easier for residents to opt out of receiving Yellow Pages. An industry-sponsored opt-out registry by Yellow Pages will, Naftzger hopes, reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills in Highland Park.

"My goal is not to reduce Yellow Pages," Naftzger said. "It is to reduce and eliminate those that are unwanted."

Residents can receive up to four phone directories per year. To opt out of these deliveries, residents can go to YellowPagesOptOut.com. There they can choose which directories they'd like to receive or opt out of all deliveries altogether.

Opting out requests take 12 weeks, according to a press release issued by the City of Highland Park. Filling out the form takes a matter of minutes.

"I went on the website and opted myself and found it quick and easy to do," said , who engaged in discussions with Naftzger and Yellow Pages to tackle this issue.

Originally, Naftzger and Frank considered pursuing a more regulatory role in helping residents opt out of deliveries. Out of financial and legal concerns, they decided the city's role should be more peripheral.

"We think this is very cost effective," Frank said. "While we're encouraging people to choose whether or not they want to opt out, this is not a city program this is still an industry-run program."

According to both Frank and Naftzger, the city will check in with Yellow Pages in six months to see how many people have opted out of deliveries and to make sure that those residents are no longer receiving Yellow Pages.

"We're essentially going to be relying on the industry to report on themselves," Frank said. "We'll look at it [in six months] and see if it's satisfactory at that point."

Naftzger added that while he was "optimisitc and hopeful" about the approach the council is taking, more involvement in the future was not off the table.

"We can still pursue a regulatory approach if needed," he said.

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