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 »  Home  »  home  »  Stopping junk mail
Stopping junk mail
By Green Living Tips | Published  11/9/2010 | home , business
Saving trees by stopping junk mail

First published January 2008, updated October 2010

The average adult in the USA receives a whopping 41 pounds of junk mail a year and approximately 44% of this mail winds up in a landfill without having been opened. Imagine that; over a lifetime over a thousand pounds of what is mostly, well, not to put too fine a point on it - crud. 
 
That's far more paper than a fully grown pine tree can provide. Now multiply that by a couple of hundred million people and I'm sure you get the picture. On top of that there's the substantial water footprint in creating the paper and the environmental impact of inks and chemicals, making the paper difficult to recycle. Then there's the printing process itself and transportation. Even if recycled paper is used, a lot of resources are consumed in the recycling process.

It's not just the environment

Steven Rosson from SlotGuard recently flagged an important point with me regarding junk mail - it can be a security threat. According to the SlotGuard site, over 27 thousand Americans have their identities stolen from pre-approved credit offers and personalized junk mail.

So what do you do to try and stem the tide of junk email clogging up your mailbox, landfill - and posing a security threat? There's some creative tips here; but a few organizations have sprung up in recent times in the USA to assist consumers in having their names added to a "no junk mail" list with many companies.

SlotGuard

According to Steven Rosson from SlotGuard: "We are very thorough and remove people from the biggest offenders in terms of environmental impact, as well as threats to personal privacy. For example, almost 100% of our customers opt out of pre-approved credit offers and phone books. As you know, phone books are huge and left at doorsteps around the country every year. If 100,000 people used SlotGuard to opt out of their phone books, the impact would be huge. It doesn't stop there though: we also cover about 80% of standard junk mail, coupons, etc, which really adds up over time. "

SlotGuard costs $9.95 a year.

41Pounds

41pounds.org claim to be able to stop 80-95% of unwanted catalogs and junk mail. Based on the information you provide, they contact dozens of direct marketing companies and catalog companies and tell them to remove your name from their distribution lists. The service isn't free - it costs $41.00 for 5 years but they state over a third of each new subscriber’s fee is donated to an environmental or community organization of their choice.

Catalog Choice

Catalog Choice  is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center and endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Defense Council. It looks to be a fairly simple process - you register online, then using the Catalog Choice search facilities to locate and decline specific company catalogs. It can take at least ten weeks to process your request. Catalog Choice is a free service.

In other countries, we aren't so lucky to have these services.
 
Mail boxes were crammed with over 8 billion pieces of junk mail in 2004 in Australia, and back then the total population was under 20 million. That's a lot of trees. One thing I've found helped was to have a post office box and not to have a letterbox out front. I hardly see any junk.
 
Australians can request removal from junk mail distribution lists by writing to info@adma.com.au. Junk mail delivered to a letterbox with a "No Advertising Material" sticker can be reported to the Distribution Standards Board on 1800 676 136. or via www.catalogue.asn.au/distribution. This is an industry body rather than a government organization.
 
As for countries such as Canada, the UK etc. I'm not sure of what services are available, if any, to block junk mail.
 
If you're in the USA, have you used either Slotguard, 41Pounds or Catalog Choice? Is it working for you? Know of other similar services? Share your thoughts below!
 
If you're from another country and know of effective ways to stop junk mail, please also share those tips below - I'm sure many readers would be very appreciative of the info!




Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
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Archived/older comments
  • Comment #1 (Posted by Charlotte)

    For Canada, there is a do-not-contact service (mail, phone and fax) at

    https://cornerstonewebmedia.com/cma/submit.asp

    Sadly, at least for the phone it hasn't reduced the junk I get by much. For mail it's hard to tell; I didn't get much junk to begin with.

    This site only works for addressed mail; for unaddressed mail a sticker on the mailbox seems to help a lot.
     
  • Comment #2 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    Thanks Charlotte! :)
     
  • Comment #3 (Posted by ScottB)

    Try here for a lot of great tips for stopping unwanted junk mail!

    http://www.obviously.com/junkmail/
     
  • Comment #4 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    Thanks Scott!
     
  • Comment #5 (Posted by Marcie)

    I have used and continue to use Catalog Choice and I love it!
    Its one of the few sites that are Free for those of us in the US.
    Best tip for Catalog Choice is hang onto that Catalog or Magazine when you get it so you can key in the customer code on the catalog for them to process it quicker.
    Catalog choice also allows you to add your own catalogs if its not listed. It might take longer, but its worth a shot!
    It will also show you what catalogs are pending for removal in your account.
     
  • Comment #6 (Posted by Sarah)

    there is also the red dot campaign, I don't have a lot of information about it but I think it comes out of B.C. but I could be totally wrong. It is essentially a citizens movement to stop junk mail. You place a sign on your mailbox. I have no idea how effective its been but heres the website. www.reddotcampaign.ca
     
  • Comment #7 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    Thanks for your contribution Sarah!
     
  • Comment #8 (Posted by Elizabeth)

    I started using Catalog Choice about a month ago. So far,only one of about twenty have confirmed they'll stop sending me catalogs. I hope to see more companies agree to stop willingly, but I'll be taking the extra step and calling them directly if they don't :> The cool thing about the site (other than it's free) is they show you the status and if the company refuses to honor the request, they provide the phone number to call.
     
  • Comment #9 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    Thanks for the update on Catalog Choice Elizabeth :)
     
  • Comment #10 (Posted by riotborne)

    Whenever I get junkmail (in the U.S.), I just call the company directly and ask that they remove my name. It was took some effort initally, since I had to make a lot of calls. But it really has cut down the amount of junk mail I get.
     
  • Comment #11 (Posted by Sebastian)

    Now that I am in my new home, I've started to shred junk mail and use it as attic insulation to supplement already existing insulation. I also take what few statements I receive in the mail, scan them into my PC and shred them. A pdf file sure beats wasting paper and space with traditional files and the added insulation sure goes a long way in keeping the home warm during our cold winters.
     
  • Comment #12 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    Thanks for the tip riotborne.

    Sebastian, do you treat the shredded paper with anything before using it as insulation? I'm just thinking about rodent/fire issues.
     
  • Comment #13 (Posted by dougladner)

    One tip I heard(Andy Rooney maybe?) was to pack all that junk back into their return envelope and send it back to them. It does cost you the price of postage(or if return postage is included even better), but the costs to sort and dispose of that mail will eventually cause them to drop you from their list. Don't know if it acually works, haven't tried it myself, but I'd be interested to hear if this tactic has worked for anybody else. Also, I have to think there's a little guilty pleasure in sending that junk mail back from where it came=)
     
  • Comment #14 (Posted by Tim Henry)

    I started using Catalog Choice and then I moved to MyJunkTree.com and I really like thier service. I normally get an email from teh catalog company within 48 hours so I know it is done. It seemed to take forever to get an update from Catalog Choice. MyJunkTree even helped me stop all the credit card offers, phone books and misc junk mail. Easy and fast service to use.
     
  • Comment #15 (Posted by Michael - Green Living Tips)

    dougladner and Tim; thanks for your contributions; great stuff :).
     
  • Comment #16 (Posted by Steven)

    In the UK there is a website called www.myletterbox.com which helps prevent junk mail being sent, it also gives you the option to customise what you want and do not want which is very good!
     
  • Comment #17 (Posted by susanp999)

    I started using Catalog Choice the minute I heard about it years ago. Now I only receive catalogs I choose to see - and I tell everyone about the great service they provide. It's a brilliant concept - I highly recommend it - and wish I'd thought if it myself!!
     
  • Comment #18 (Posted by Nikki)

    I have used Catalogue Choice and the Direct Mail Marketing preferences for eliminating junk mail. It took awhile, but I am now about 99% free of extra stuff. One interesting benefit was the decrease in my credit card bills. No catalogues, no impulse spending!!
    I wish there was a way to stop the charities who endlessly mail the address labels, cards etc. You think most of the funds are being spent on postage and the return on that type of investment I think would be minimal.
    Great article, I am forward it to a Sustainability Issues Group that I belong to.
     
  • Comment #19 (Posted by Dave Matthews)

    Signed up for Slotguard today and LOVE the layout. They have a live customer service chat on their site. Very easy to use.
     
  • Comment #20 (Posted by hazie)

    I talked to the post office and asked them not to deliver junk mail to my po box. this has been 5 year and I no longer get junk. I get 3-4 magazines I ordered and my credit card bills, but no junk.
     
  • Comment #21 (Posted by Robin F)

    Thanks for this article. I'm all for free services so I "Googled" "junk mail .gov" and the FTC article came up with suggestions. Here's the link. I'll be getting on those right away!

    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt063.shtm
     
  • Comment #22 (Posted by Barb)

    reddotcampaign.ca
    I am in Ontario and this works great and my postal carrier is very co-operative as is my freebie newspaper carrier. The only items in my mailbox now are addressed directly to me. I printed out the material on the site and taped on my mailbox...voila!
     
  • Comment #23 (Posted by Mavis Wood)

    I have been sending junk mail back for more than 20 years. I have reduced my junk mail pile dramatically. Just ask my mailman.
    If there is a business reply envelope, they get it back with "Please remove my name from your mailing list" written on it. Also, stuff it with everything that came with it, and add a few other things. (Andy Rooney's piece said to send McDonald's coupons to a credit card company, etc.)
    If they persist in sending you stuff, threaten to send them a box of rocks. (It's been done.) I fill a large (used) manila envelope with lots of things, seal it and paste the business reply envelope on the outside. It goes and they have to pay for it. I even got rid of book club mailings that way. Mavis
     
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