It is official: slacks, blouses and discotheques are out and apprenticeships, property styling and juice bars are in, according to heading changes in the 2009 Yellow Pages® Directory.

Almost every home and business in Sydney is about to receive the 2009 Yellow Pages® Directory and the latest edition provides a fascinating snapshot of changes to our lifestyle, language and the technology we use today.

The directory shows the needs of Australians have shifted to focus on health and environmental products and services, in addition to our language evolving to a less formal, more colloquial style of English.

Over recent years a large number of headings in the Yellow Pages® Directory have been added, removed or rephrased.

Notable additions to the Yellow Pages® Directory include new headings for Apprenticeships, Property Styling and Juice Bars, along with Environmental Products, Pizzas and Animal and Pet Enclosures.

Moving with the times, it’s not surprising headings for Asbestos Products, Crumpet Makers and Calculating Services have been removed, as have Pencil Manufacturers, Island Agents & Merchants and Telex Equipment and Supplies.

In the ever-changing fashion industry, headings such as Blouse Wholesalers & Manufacturers, and Skirts & Slacks Retail are no longer, while headings such as Fashion Accessories continue to grow as more and more people accessorise for the right look.

More common products and services have also received a much needed language makeover. These include dropping the word Discotheques and replacing with Nightclubs, changing Handyman’s Equipment to the more politically correct Hardware Retail and replacing Hunters & Trappers with the more civilised Pest Control (see table below for more examples of changes to headings).

Connecting Australian buyers and sellers for more than 80 years now, the Yellow Pages® print directory is used by people in Sydney more than 3.4 million times each month¹, with nine out of 10 searches resulting in contact with a business and of those, seven out of 10 resulting in a purchase².

Yellow™ Group Marketing Manager, Stephen Harvy said through its role supporting small businesses and helping to drive economic activity in Sydney, the Yellow Pages® print directory provides a unique chronicle of tastes, trends and economic activity.

“We’re extremely proud of the role the Yellow Pages directory plays in society, helping to connect buyers with hundreds of thousands of small businesses across Australia. It continues to be a much loved one-stop-shop for just about anything people in Sydney need,” he said.

“The Yellow Pages® print directory provides great insights into what’s popular with shoppers and how local businesses are adapting to meet their needs. For example, with people’s growing environmental awareness, we’ve seen an influx of businesses offering environmental products and services such as tanks and tank equipment and solar energy equipment.”

“New and emerging lifestyle related headings are also providing a good guide to how people are spending their leisure time. For example, one of our fastest growing headings in terms of the number of business listings is Surfing Instruction. This year, we’ve also added a number of headings under Clubs, such as Parachuting, Rock Climbing and Go-Karting,” Mr Harvy said.

This year, the Yellow Pages® Directory includes new features to help make finding local businesses even easier. A new section called ‘Your Sydney’ highlights public transport routes within the CBD, a map showing the location of city attractions, as well as a section of inner-city street maps of Sydney from UBD.

Together with the 2009 Sydney Yellow™ Directory, Sydneysiders will this year receive a mini-edition called the Yellow™ In the Car™ Directory. A small, glovebox size, the Yellow™ In the Car™ Directory is a portable directory for people to use when out and about or to keep in a handy location such as the car or the workshop.

“The trials of the Yellow™ In the Car™ Directory we’ve conducted with consumers and advertisers over the past three years have been very successful. People love the format and the convenience so this year we are delivering it to homes and business together with the 2009 Sydney Yellow Pages® Directory,” Mr Harvy said.

With the delivery of this year’s Yellow™ directories, Mr Harvy encouraged people to recycle their old directories by putting them in their regular kerbside recycling service.

“Last year people in Sydney recycled an incredible 81% of their directories and re-used another 16%. This meant that only 3% ended up going to landfill which is a world-class result. Now the challenge is to raise the bar again and recycle or re-use even more old directories,” Mr Harvy said.

The fibre content of paper used within Yellow™ (Metro, Regional and Local) and White Pages® directories contains an average of 45% recycled paper fibre and 27% recycled timber mill waste. The fibre content of carton board used for Yellow™ (Metro, Regional and Local) and White Pages® directory covers, tabs and bookmarks contains an average of 29% recycled paper fibre and 40% recycled timber mill waste.

For more information about what can be recycled in your local area visit the www.recyclingnearyou.com.au website – bought to Australians via a partnership between Sensis and Planet Ark.

About Sensis

Sensis is Telstra's advertising business and Australia's leading directories information resource, helping Australians find, buy and sell. Sensis delivers innovative and integrated local search and digital marketing solutions via print, online, voice and mobile channels to connect Australians 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sensis' powerful, multi-channel portfolio provides an unparalleled local information source incorporating the White Pages® and Yellow Pages® directories; the MediaSmart digital advertising business; the Whereis® digital mapping business; the Citysearch® entertainment and lifestyle website; the sensis.com.au search engine; the 1234 operator-assisted, premium voice information service; and the accommodation website gostay.com.au. Sensis is also a partner in some of China's most popular websites including real estate and home furnishings website, SouFun.com; auto websites Autohome.com and Che168.com; and digital devices websites IT168.com and PCPop.com.cn.