Journal Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl's report that in 2007, Capitol One Credit Card sent him nearly 6 pounds of unsolicited junk mail, got me looking into our recycling bin, which is filling up as I write with paper I never bought, never used, and never wanted. The junk mail pours in.Catalogs, credit card offers, deals on wheels, you name it, print it up, and it's in our mailbox.
According to the Native Forest Network guide to stopping junk mail, 100 million trees are ground up each year to make junk mail. That's got to make some kind of contribution to global warming!
According to the Native Forest Network guide to stopping junk mail, 100 million trees are ground up each year to make junk mail. That's got to make some kind of contribution to global warming!
All in the interests of our economy—right?—except that 44 percent of junk mail gets trashed without ever being opened. Together with other types of paper and paperboard waste, the junk mail adds up to 40% of the solid waste in our landfills.
So here’s what you can do to stop the tree killing:
1. All the junk mail, including that with plastic windows in the envelopes, goes in the recycling bin.
1. All the junk mail, including that with plastic windows in the envelopes, goes in the recycling bin.
2. Get your name off the credit card and insurance offer lists by going to the credit bureaus’ centralized service for opting out.
3. Spent a dollar, just one, to sign onto the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service, which, in theory, will reduce your junk mail by 75%.
4. Call the 800 number on the catalogs and asking them to take you off their lists.
3. Spent a dollar, just one, to sign onto the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service, which, in theory, will reduce your junk mail by 75%.
4. Call the 800 number on the catalogs and asking them to take you off their lists.
Every Green Thursday we post something to help save our planet.
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