Along with more heavily researched issues, I want to post some concise entries that deal with “easy actions” you can take to curb waste and reduce your environmental impact. Reducing junk mail has never been an issue I thought I had any control over, but an article in the NY Times has me thinking otherwise.
Statistics:
- The average American household receives 26 pieces of junk mail per week
- An estimated 100 million trees are harvested annually to produce 4.5 million tons of junk mail
- 44% of junk mail is thrown away unopened
In 2003, U.S. congress passed a bill initiating a national “do not call” list that households could join, making it illegal for solicitors to call those numbers. A number of companies have latched on to this concept for junk mail, charging you a small annual fee ($15-30) to initiate and maintain a process that will cut your junk mail by up to 90%. One company, Greendimes, has over 50,000 customers and claims to have stopped almost 2 million pounds of junk mail from being sent.