Can you remember the last time you looked anything up in a phone book? No? Me either.

With access to the Internet and search engines ever on call to answer our queries, the humble phone book is largely becoming redundant in today’s society. Probably no bad thing; can you imagine the energy that goes into producing and delivering those things?

The good news is that if you don’t need those phone books to prop up a shelf, and you want to take the Treading Lighter option, now you can.

Sensis (the publisher of both the Yellow and White Pages here in Australia) now offers a way to opt-out of receiving directories. Of course, you’ll not only potentially be saving yourself some cupboard space, but helping to reduce the demand for the books in the first place.

To opt-out of phone book delivery, visit the Sensis Community Pages or call 1800 810 211 and select option 2 then option 7.

(Oh, and it seems you’ll need a land line number connected to your address to opt-out, due to the way Sensis’ computer records work.)

For the U.S. view on phone book delivery and to pick up some interesting facts and figures, head over to yellowpagesgoesgreen.

Photo: How Can I Recycle This

Mobile phone provider 3 has started an initiative to get its customers to switch to their eBilling feature. Currently at some $40,000 they’ll donate $1,000 for every 1% of their customer base that signs up. If you’re a 3 customer, you’ll need to register at their online portal, My3, to get your bill emailed to you in PDF format every month. The good news is that if you sign up, 3 will also knock the $2 monthly paper bill surcharge off your account.

I’m a keen advocate of paperless billing, and have been using this service for a few months now. I’m happy to say it doesn’t take long to adjust to not receiving a paper bill, and the email is much easier to file!

For more information, head over to http://www.three.com.au/ebilling

Greening Australia – http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/

(Know of any other companies offering similar services? Please let us know via the contact form and we’ll post an update.)