The End Is Nigh For Minnesota White Pages

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Before the convenience of Facebook and the Internet, there were the White Pages to find your friends. Now, kids born after today may never know what a phone book is.

On Monday, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission unanimously voted to stop the mandatory distribution of residential phone books. The commission agreed that getting rid of unwanted phone books would help the environment.

Joy Hansch may be busy baking and answering calls at Sarah Janes Bakery in Minneapolis, but she still pulls out her phone books when she needs a number.

"I like having it I recycle the old one and I use the new one," Hansch said. "It's like baking. It's a lost art. Nobody takes time to do anything anymore. It's all, boom, gotta find it just like that"

The White Pages isn't completely gone, however. CenturyLink -- Minnesota's largest phone service provider -- will make the books available to anyone who requests one. The company says only about 1 percent of people request a phone book.

The first phone book was issued in 1871 in New Haven, Connecticut. It sold for more than $170,000 at an auction in 2008.

For ideas on how to recycle your old phonebooks, click here.