Last month, I came home to yet another set of phone books sitting at my front door. Yet, I haven't had or used a phone book at home since I lived with my parents. Who needs them, after all, when everything can be found online, often in a more updated form? Despite survey results showing that most American adults have already stopped using phone books, over 500,000,000 yellow pages directories are printed and distributed in the U.S. every year.

So what can you do?

Help cut down on paper and energy use by opting out of home and business phone book delivery and do your searching online instead: opt out is available at the industry site http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/, though you may also be able to contact your local phone book distributor.

If you're like me and already received unwanted phone books, check out these 17 ways to creatively re-purpose your directory. Once you've gotten all the use out of them you can, be sure to recycle them. Any recycler that accepts mixed paper should be able to recycle them.