Seattle in Washington, USA has passed the nation's first phone book opt-out ordinance, which also requires directory publishers to pay for the City's phone book recycling costs. Earth911 reports that the law also requires directory publishers to pay US$148 per ton of books to cover the city's costs of recycling the estimated 2 million directories distributed annually. It is the first law in the U. S. placing the financial burden of phone book disposal on the publishers. The opt-out registry will also be funded by directory publishers through a 14-cent fee per book distributed. The registry should be live by July 2011, and publishers that deliver books to those that have opted out are subject to fines. The fee is expected to be reduced to 7 cents per book after five years.
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