HORRY COUNTY -- Madeline White proudly shows off her collection. She's been living in Conway for about a year and already she is the owner of five phonebooks.

"I picked up one from HTC when I got here because I needed to find out where things were," says White. "But now I feel a little overwhelmed."

Three Real Yellow Pages, one Verizon, and one HTC phonebook are scattered at different locations. She keeps the phonebooks because sometimes, if you can't find a listing in one book, you may be able to find one in another. "By the time that happens, I'm fed up and search on the internet for it anyway."

You may have already received the newest yellow pages. Companies are delivering phonebooks across the area. But the time for using the once essential household item may be running out.

The yellow pages now offers a program for customers who don't want the book to opt out of getting one. With the simple click of a mouse, you can stop the delivery of just one, several, or all directories that come to your home.

In 2008, the companyYellowbook claimed almost half of consumers needing phone numbers used print yellow pages as opposed to those listed on the internet. But already use was down more than ten percent from 2006.

According to mocoNews, 63.2 million people use smartphones in the U.S., giving them quick access to phone numbers at anytime.

Now, phonebooks are taking a backseat to internet sites like Google and even their own yellow (www.yellowpages.com) and white pages web sites. But the annual directory still continues to show up on the porch.

HTC Chief Executive of Customer Operations Brent Groome admits more people are using the internet to look up phone numbers. But he says the books are especially helpful for tourists looking for places to go. Hotel chains place a phone book in each room.

"There are still a useful means for advertising for companies," says Groome. "Just in the past three years, we've had another directory come into this market so something has to be working."

Earth911.com says 660,000 tons of phonebooks end in up landfills each year. For more than 25 years, HTC has teamed with local businesses including the Horry County Solid Waste Authority to help recycle more books.

"With the help of schools in the county, we recycled 113 tons of phonebooks last year, and it didn't matter if it was ours or a competitors. We made an effort to recycle any phonebooks."

But HTC alone sends out about 300,000 books a year. The 2009-2010 version weighs about 3.81 pounds. Which means they send out more than 1.1 million pounds of phonebooks a year. 113 tons weigh 226,000 pounds. Which means about 900,000 pounds of just HTC phonebooks were either thrown away, are sitting in homes across Horry County, or, as HTC hopes, recycled by people on their own.

On the Grand Strand, some residents get three phone books a year. HTC, AT&T, andVerizon deliver throughout the area.

Some websites and articles even suggest new uses for your phonebook like projects with kids and fire starters, since more people aren't thumbing through them anymore.

Do you still use your phonebook? If not, what do you do with it? Do you think it's a waste? Leave your thoughts below!