WHEN the 2010 Yellow Pages landed on John Cully's Normanhurst doorstep last month, he knew exactly what to do with it.

"It went straight into the recycling bin," Mr Cully said. "Like the White Pages a few months before, it didn't make it indoors."

Mr Cully's experience is a common one. Although the internet has rendered them obsolete to many, over 20 million of the white and yellow tomes are delivered to houses and businesses each year.

About 2 million go into recycling bins, said a study by CoreData last year. The study also found that 58 per cent of people would stop having the Yellow Pages delivered if given the choice.

Sensis, the Telstra-owned entity that distributes the books, disputes these findings. Their data, collected by Roy Morgan, suggests more than 8 million people use a White or Yellow Pages each week.