Junk Mail
How much waste is created by junk mail?
Junk mail creates four million tons of preventable waste each year, -consumes 62 million trees a year, and -forty-four percent is unopened, unread, and immediately thrown away. Since junk mail is a major way that paper is wasted in our country, it's best for the environment if we not only recycle the junk mail we get, but also stop receiving it all together.
How did I get on these lists in the first place?
Every time you provide your name and address to receive a product or service, there's a good chance you are being added to one or more mailing lists. When you buy a car, have a baby, make a purchase from a catalog, give money to a charity or fill out a product registration card, your name is likely to be entered into a computer data base. If you are a customer of one mail order company, you are likely to receive offers from other companies. Many mail order firms "rent" their mailing list to other businesses. Credit card companies also rent their mailing lists, as do magazines. So, if you subscribe to a cooking magazine, you may find yourself receiving mail order catalogs for kitchen supplies and food specialties.
*http://www.junkmailstopper.com/
How do I get off of the junk mail lists?
You can remove yourself from most national mailing lists by contacting the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service MPS). You must re-register after five years. Below is a link to a free service to remove your name from the bulk mailing list: http://www.dmaconsumers.org/privacy.html
Remember to be persistent and patient. It will take time before you notice a decrease in the amount of junk mail you receive. In the meantime, reuse bulk junk mail for scrap paper, and recycle junk mail. It should be opened and sorted; glossy material can be put with magazines.
Tips to keep you off of junk mail lists
Mail order companies, catalogues, credit cards, magazines and thousands of other businesses and organizations get names and addresses through the rental of mailing lists of other businesses and organizations. You can have your name eliminated from many lists with one letter by writing to: Direct Marketing Association , Mail Preference Service, P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008 However, not all companies participate in the DMA program. You'll have to contact some directly. Always do so in writing.
Credit Cards and Other Accounts: Contact your credit card companies, stores where you maintain accounts, magazines to which you subscribe, charities or organizations to which you donate money or other gifts and professional or trade organizations to which you belong. Notify their customer service department that you don't want your name and address "rented" out.
Telephone Books & Reverse Directories: Information listed in the telephone book is available to anyone. Mailing list companies compile information from these "public" records and sell it. If you're listed in the White Pages, with your name, address and phone number, you're also listed in the telephone company's "reverse directories." To lessen the chance of getting on lists created from this source, list only your phone number in your local directory and tell your phone company to remove your listing from its "street address directory." *http://www.consumerpro.com/rs210jm.html
Tips for getting off and staying off of junk mailing lists:
http:// www.obviously.com/junkmail/ -http://www.ecofuture.org/jnkmail.html -http://opt-out.cdt.org/-http://www.junkmailstopper.com/
