Put an End to Junk Mail
Posted on February 26th, 2009 - 10:30 AMAbout the author: Lina Younes has been working for EPA since 2002 and chairs EPA’s Multilingual Communications Task Force. Prior to joining EPA, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and she has worked for several government agencies.
Recently, when I came home from work, I found my mailbox full of envelopes, magazines, brochures, ads, you name it—mostly unsolicited mail. What really bugs me is that all too often the important items (bills, letters, subscriptions) risk being lost in the pile of bulk mail. When you come to think about it, most of the time, the mail we receive is unsolicited and we clearly can live without. So that got me to thinking, how much paper is used to produce that unsolicited mail? How many trees have to die to produce this mail? What are some of the other environmental impacts? Water used in paper processing? Carbon dioxide released into the air to transport these unwanted items? How much actually ends in our landfills?
The statistics are quite alarming. More than 4 million tons of junk mail are produced yearly. Over 50 percent of this unsolicited mail ends up in landfills annually. While the quantity of paper waste seems overwhelming, there are things we can do to put a stop to these unwanted deliveries. For example, there are various websites where you can register in order not to receive unsolicited advertising mail and to prevent advertisers from sharing your name and address with similar companies.
Furthermore, there are other steps we can take to reduce paper usage and economic costs of bulk mailings. How about using technology? You can use the Internet to check out company ads electronically. You can bookmark your favorite Web sites instead of printing them. Use scrap paper for drafts or note paper. And if efforts to reduce waste at the source fail, let’s recycle! Please visit our website for some useful tips.
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Question of the Week
February 26th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Nice post. I found the registration cuts junk mail for several months but you have to repeat it about once a year.
I get the impression all the reporting and communications the federal agencies will need to do regarding the Recovery Act (stimulus bill) might eat up a lot of paper as well. Might I suggest the existing EPAStat framework may be a good way to comply with the reporting requirements without reinventing too many wheels and printing out a lot more paper? Some Recovery Act status meetings broadcast on IPTV might, at a minimum, be a good idea. Perhaps it could be a model for how other agencies track progress.
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February 26th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I found a unique way to “encourage” a particular credit card company to cease and desist their frequent offers of an “additional card for a loved one” … I wrote them a very polite letter, informing them that my husband and I both had cards already and that the dog wasn’t allowed out alone and the cat couldn’t be trusted to handle credit wisely. It must’ve done the trick because the offers (which had been arriving every other month) ceased.
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February 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Thanks Lina for the info. After months of “meaning to do it”, this morning I followed your link and got on the “take me off your list” list. I’m hoping it will save paper, and keep personal info out of my garbage and recycling.
Marcus, I’ll keep track and see if I need to refresh the request. They promise it’s good for 5 years but we’ll see.
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February 26th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Good idea! How are you doing?
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February 26th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Excelent! Even though I registered with Direct Marketing Association years ago to cut on unsolicited mail, there is the ocassional piece on my mail. I try to recycle the paper for writing notes, but after a while feel tempted to throw it on the trash.
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February 27th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I asked the people at the post office what could be done to stop the huge influx of junk flyers and ads I get at my po box and regular mailbox.They said nothing!It’s just not right.None of it gets read and its just chopping down trees and creating more waste.It’s(or should be)criminal.I’m grateful for the Direct Marketing Association I’m going to check that out.
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February 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
You know, I’ve always wondered–what would happen if the Post Office actually INCREASED the rates for bulk mail? Maybe that would put it to an end and then they wouldn’t have to increase it for consumers one or two cents at a time. They problably could get additional revenue after all.
Just a thought.
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March 4th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Some links as food for thought:
Credit card offers, ads form sculpture for recycling center in San Francisco: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/27/BAGNBGU9K01.DTL
Home Art Projects:
http://alittlehut.blogspot.com/2007/05/recycling.html
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/green-ideas/junk-mail-art-067654
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