Some California lawmakers expect to present a bill to the state legislator creating an “opt-in” for print White Pages home delivery, ending a 14-year state demand for door to door White Pages directory delivery. If the law passes, areas of California whose white and yellow pages books are combined would be required to publish a Yellow-only book, and only distribute a separate white pages to those who requested it. State Senator Leland Yee from San Francisco and Millbrae councilmember Gina Papan are approaching this as a green issue.

“All of us know in these cost-conscious times, with growing awareness of the environment, that we need to make sure we don’t waste resources,” SFGate reported, as part of Yee’s speech to the press at Millbrae City Hall. “This does not deny anyone the White Pages – but a lot of people don’t want them.”

Contrary to what many might think, it’s not the directory providers who necessarily want or asked for door to door delivery of the print product. In 1995, California law required phone companies to deliver White Pages at no charge to each home and business that had a landline. Now, in both Florida and Georgia, reported SFGate.com, AT&T actually went to the legislator and asked permission to stop door to door delivery of its white pages. Reasons giving by AT&T were the environment, modern technology, and changing customer preferences.

The facts offered by Yee and Papan: 5 million trees destroyed by distribution of 147 million directories in the U.S. each year, 16 percent of which get recycled at a cost of $17 million.

While at first glance this might seem a disruption of directory publishers’ revenue, it might well have the opposite effect. Yellow Pages will still be distributed, advertising revenue will not be disturbed and it just might prompt additional use of online directory use. What it might mean to newspapers and others competing in this online directory space is hard to say at this point. California has often led the way in socially-conscious moves, and were this legislation to pass it just might spread to other states as well.