Whether you use one or not, you probably have at least one phone book.

I bet if you look hard, you may find more.

But as more and more people rely on the internet for everything, some believe the book is looking less like a resource and more like a relic.

Rejected phone books are a common sight at Recycling Enterprises in Lincoln.

Chris Zegar, President of Recycling Enterprises, says, "We usually do not allow the phone directories because there are so many of them so we do a separate collection."

Chris Zegar knows all about the books. He collects about 75,000 in the city annually.

Zegar says, "We do about a truckload of newspaper or phone book materials everyday."

As technology shifts from physical to digital, many people, including some at Vipa Solutions, believe phone books are quickly becoming insignificant.

Joseph Knecht, Managing Director of Vipa Solutions, says, "Their need and value is increasingly declining even more so rapidly over the next two years where people are just continuously going to the web to search for stuff."

Jenna Hanson, Vipa Solutions intern and blogger, says, "The freedom of information is just a lot more available online and people should be able to know about those kinds of things."

Tens of thousands of phone books are recycled every year in Lincoln and while some don't even make it out of the package, phone book experts say more people are using them than one might think.

Pat Nichols, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Berry Company, says, "Over the course of the year, we saw sequential increase in the use of print directories and a very significant increase in Internet directions."

Pat Nichols of the Berry Company says people in Lincoln searched their online directory 7 million times last year. But Nichols insists phone book ads are still paying off 14 to 1 for investors. Berry company research shows 79% of consumers who use the book, make a contact with a business and 40% of those make a purchase.

Nichols says, "We believe that phone books will continue to be a vital source of local information as we move forward."

But it may be too early to tell the actual fate of a book once considered a primary resource, now taking up space on the recycling room floor.

You can find more information about phone book recycling by clicking on the link below.

If you click on the "opt out" link, you can learn how to remove yourself from the phone book distribution list.