Yell has announced it will reduce the size of the Yellow Pages by a quarter. The company says the change will maintain its 'widely acknowledged track record with regard to the environment', but its online competitors remain unconvinced.

The change in size - a reduction of five centimetres in height and four centimetres in width - will be the most significant revamp of the book since it was first published over forty years ago. However, the number of pages will remain roughly the same.

Yell has said that the change is the result of research showing that people are more likely to use a compact directory. Another reason for the change is that the company is under increasing pressure to reduce the environmental impact of the Yellow Pages. Its press release states that producing a smaller directory will "maintain Yell's widely acknowledged track record with regard to the environment".

Online directory 192.com meanwhile has criticised its competitors plans. The company, which is currently running a petition in favour of an opt-in system for paper directories, claims that research indicates that 41 per cent of UK households don't use paper directories at all and that 70 per cent of the population would support the introduction of an opt-in system. Such a move, the company claims, would do much more to prevent paper waste.

On Saturday, the Local Government Association urged people who don't use paper directories to cancel them by opting out. The representative of councils in England says that directories create 75,000 tonnes of waste per year and that UK taxpayers are paying £7.5m annually for the disposal of directories. Over the weekend, more than 2,000 people opted out of receiving directories using the Junk Buster website.

Links

• Yellow Pages to be revamped (ukprwire.com)
• Yell's concession as LGA joins anti-phone book lobby (saynotophonebooks.org)
• Say no to phone books petition (number10.gov.uk)
• Opt out of junk mail and paper directories (junkbuster.org.uk)