Paper Less Living: Just Say No To Junk Mail

Did you know….

Every year American households receive a total of 104.7 billion pieces of junk mail or 848 pieces of junk mail per household, which requires 6.5 million tons of paper. (source)

Can you imagine 848 pieces of junk mail! My kitchen island would be covered and piled high with that amount of junk. Some of us are so programmed to just toss the junk mail we don’t realize what an impact this is making on our landfills. If you’re taking on the challenge of saving up your paper for a month you may already be getting a little touch of reality when you see how much is getting tossed on average.

I wanted to tackle the junk mail first on this journey to Paper Less Living because out of all of the things I will be talking about junk mail is one of the easiest things to take care of. It won’t make a huge impact on your productivity or your existing paper piles (unless of course you normally save it all) but it will make an enormous impact on the environment.

So let’s Say NO To Junk Mail! Here is a great place to start…

Do not mail opt out tool – just like the national do not call registry, Forest Ethics is campaigning to start a national do not mail registry. In the mean time they offer opt out forms that will allow you to contact some of the largest junk mail offenders.

Direct Marketing Association – will help you start getting the mail that you want – and stop getting the mail you don’t.

Obviously.com has a comprehensive DIY guide to stop junk mail, email and phone calls.

Catalog Choice is a great resource for unwanted catalog’s. By entering the tracking numbers on the mailing label they will contact the company to have you taken off the list. Or, you can always try to contact the company yourself.

With the above options you have to do most of the leg work yourself. Filling out forms, making phone calls and keeping track of it all. If you feel like it might be more trouble than it’s worth or just don’t have the time you may want to try one of the paid services below.

Mail Stopper – For $20.00 a year Mail Stopper offers to reduce your junk mail up to 90% within 90 days and they will plant 5 trees for every new member.

Stop The Junk Mail – For $19.95 a year Stop The Junk Mail offers a fully automated system for reducing your junk mail up to 90% and will plant 1 tree for every new subscriber.

I think the most pleasing aspect of the paid versions is that they offer monthly monitoring and if you get something you don’t want you don’t have to go through a whole process to take care of it, you just log in and add it to your list.

So let’s give the landfills and our mailboxes and little break and tackle that junk mail!

For the full series click here…  Paper Less Living: Simple Solutions For Downsizing Your Paper Pile Up