Stop the Junk Mail Monster!

by Dorothee Royal-Hedinger · View Comments

Most everyone hates junk mail but do you know the extent to which it destroys forests and wastes your time? According to the nonprofit ForestEthics, every year more than 100 billion pieces of junk mail—almost 900 pieces per household—arrive in American mailboxes. Here are some facts from their website:

Junk mail in America accounts for about 30% of all the mail delivered in the world and more than 100 million trees a year are logged to produce it. Almost half of junk mail goes to landfills unopened, yet Americans still spend eight months of their lives dealing with it. The Canadian Boreal Forest and Indonesian tropical forest—both play a vital role in protecting us from the effects of global warming—are being destroyed to supply paper to this wasteful industry.

Did you read that people? Eight months wasted by opening, stacking, tearing up and throwing out junk mail! This has got to end. Do your part to stop junk mail by signing the petition at donotmail.org.

Did you know? Greenhouse gases created each year by junk mail are the annual equivalent of:

-9,372,000 average passenger cars

-11 coal-fired power plants

-Heating 12.9 million homes

-Mowing more than 20 billions lawns

[via ForestEthics]

Tagged as: Climate, Deforestation, Forests, junk mail, Paper

paul

there's also: http://reddotcampaign.ca/ in canada.

or simply putting a red dot sticker (you get them at staples/biz depot) on the inside of your mailbox in canada. that works too.

Paul

• To get rid of your junk mail, credit card offers, un-wanted catalogs, and request for money from charities try http://www.myjunktree.com. Its a great site and can stop up to 90% of your junk mail.

Carole Snow

Thanks for this dear ecoblogger. I have to mention something here from all my "years" working at NFPs. Do you know why so much paper gets pushed, and why even if you opt out of all those mailings you STILL get them? Because most places lack a centralized database that works across departments and channels. even when everyone upgrades to the same database, departments still sneak massive paper MS Excell sheets for their information, or hand tabulate things because "it's too hard to learn." At one place I worked if you opted out of the membership junk mail and brochures, the person on the other line has no way of communicating this into a central place and it gets lost in transit.

My solution to the junk mail crunch that NFPs face? Don't be afraid of Mr. Computer-- a couple of days training and choosing the right data program organization wide, allows for less of "that" and more of the good stuff-- like happy members and volunteers.

On another note, nothing irks me more than the fact I currently get 4 anthropologie catalogs. Again, DB error-- but, marketing should have the information and data to know that if I order/shop online, chances are I'm not responsive to a print catalog.

And lastly, bottom lines! Catalogs, glossy brochures, membership cards, they cost a TON of money. I think everyone would actually be thrilled to move on with already. Nothing saddens me more than listening to direct marketing professionals talk about low zip code return rates. We should be talking about paperless organizations. I know one thing that was thrilling about the Film Brigade was how savvy and committed Xan was to keeping it paperless. It ended up being a bonus when she was vying for funding.

Okay, that's my $30 worth.