If anything makes as big a thud on your doorstep as the Yellow Pages books, it has been the JC Penney semi-annual “Big Book.”

The 2009 Big Book - Collector's item?

But the retailer has decided that that thud has outlived its impressiveness and is taking a heavy toll on marketing costs and forests, announcing today that it will no long print the giant catalog. Instead, JC Penney will dedicate its resources to specialty catalogs and online services.

Explained the press release: “The discontinuation of “big book” catalogs aligns with JCPenney’s ongoing commitment to promote the sustainability of forests and other natural resources, and builds upon its legacy of operating in an ethical and socially responsible manner.”

The company expects to use 25 to 30 percent less paper for catalogs in 2010 – which will continue  “a four-year trend of declining paper consumption.”

JC Penney also will be using lighter weight paper in its remaining catalogs to keep down the wood fiber content.

Plano, Texas-based JC Penney is ”keeping pace with consumers’ changing media habits and continued migration to online versus catalog shopping…,” said Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chairman and chief executive officer, in a press release.

“Big book catalogs have become less relevant, as customers have embraced shopping online,” noted Mike Boylson, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, “where they have ready access to our entire assortment at any time on jcp.com, one of the nation’s largest general merchandise sites on the Internet.”

Yellow Pages, the pressure’s on.

Meredith Henderson was on a mission, she wanted to make composting available where she lived. But she is among of the one-third of Americans who do not own their own homes.

“I do feel that apartment dwellers are often left out of the green movement because of the fact that their options are limited by their landlord’s willingness to create those options within their buildings,” said 25 year-old Henderson.

While living in Forest Hill in Los Angeles, Henderson attempted to gather signatures on a petition for her landlord to make composting available and got only one signature from her fellow residents. Disappointed with the lack of support, she left that apartment complex and started the Facebook group “Apartment Dwellers Go Green!!”

Henderson, who now lives in Culver City, says that she prefers to use a hand washer for her clothes and then line dry them. She drives a Prius and goes “dumpster diving” for treasures to reduce the build up in the land fills. She stimulates the local economy by purchasing food at the local food market, which cuts down on gas used to drive foods.

From her experiences she has learned that education for apartment dwellers is “just as important as when you are a landowner with more control.”

Shannon Erb is doing her share from her apartment in downtown Whitewater, Wisconsin. She wakes up early to take advantage of natural light and burns candles in the evening. In order to achieve a chemical free environment, she uses green cleaning products and grows indoor plants to purify the air.

“Everything counts to the movement,” said Erb.

Boudin Bakery, established in 1849 and the creator of the Original San Francisco Sourdough French Bread, is discontinuing its print catalog. The company says it products will be available exclusively online as part of ongoing efforts to reduce paper consumption and the overall environmental impact of its operations.

“We, like many businesses, have been doing what we can in a more environmentally friendly manner. We’re proud of the steps we’ve taken and every day we strive to learn more about how we can become as eco-friendly as possible,” Lou Giraudo, co-chairman of Boudin, said in a statement. “Then, it occurred to us, there was a giant step we could take – we could drastically reduce our paper consumption by stopping production of our paper catalog, and instead rely on our Web site and online orders.”

Boudin says it typically printed 450,000 catalogs annually.