From our Partner…
“Stuff” Steps: Stop receiving junk mail
Courtesy of www.EarthHero.org
Ease: Medium
Impact Rating (1-5): 1
Influence Beyond You: 2
Types of Impacts: Reduce Plastics, Save Energy, Protects Ecosystems, Time Saver
Does it help with making your community resilient to disasters and emergencies? No
Tags:
Money Saved (1-4 $): n/a
Description: Each year billions of unaddressed flyers and junk mail are sent to homes with one purpose, to get you to buy stuff you do not need or really care about.
Those flyers, catalogs, and letters requires cutting down hundreds of millions of trees each year. That is cutting down the combined size of New York, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Paris, and Delhi every year. Some of those trees are harvested sustainably, and some is recycled, but many of those trees come from wild forests.
Plus there is the burning of fossil fuels to make the paper, chemicals as dyes, and more fossil fuels to deliver them. Often plastics are added to part or all of the paper. Often the flyer or letter ends up in the landfill; at worst they encourage people to buy more stuff that creates the same waste.
Do your part to stop the cycle. Plus it is nice to not need to look through all that junk mail and simplify your life!
Tips:
• Will you perfectly end receiving wasteful mail? Certainly not. Unnecessary items will still slip through. This is about making meaningful progress.
• Figure out what is most effective to stop unwanted mail for your area. A simple online search for about stopping junk mail should turn up good free or low cost options to try.
• There are generally three different paths to go down: 1) Work with your mail service, 2) sign up for do not mail lists, and 3) get off individual company lists. See below for more detail and options to try.
• Here is a super simple trick that works in some locations – First, find a sticky note. Next, write on it that you no longer wish to receive unaddressed neighborhood mail. Then put that note where you receive your mail.
• In some areas you can contact your post office directly or sign up with your address online to request that these not be delivered.
• A quick search online will likely turn up services and databases that you can use to block junk mail and be taken off of lists. There may be free options, low costs options, or more pricey approaches. Use your judgment on what works best for you.
• If you open junk mail and there is a pre-paid return envelope included, write a note along with a polite but firm request to remove you from the mailing list, and use the envelope to send it back.
• If there is a toll free number on the mailer call the number and ask to be removed from the mailing list. Well organized companies do not want to waste mailing to people who will never buy something, so are generally accommodating. Be sure to tell them why, so that you have a greater influence via a ripple effect.
• If you are talking with friends or family, talk about your successes stopping junk mail and encourage others to do the same. For elderly relatives consider doing it for them!
• To avoid getting on mailing lists in the first place, be wary of signing up for things and giving your mailing address information in the first place. For example, signing up for rewards cards you will never use, entering sweepstakes you never win, or filling out warranty cards that do not require a proof of purchase or receipt.
• There is a movement to outlaw these types of deliveries in some areas. Let your local politicians know you support and care about this. People from all sides of the political spectrum agree that we create too much waste.
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Image credit: Photo by Roman Koval from Pexels