Green Solution: Stop the Junk Mail!

Junk mail: What a waste of time and resources.

We don't even look at ours. It just sits in a pile until we're motivated enough to sort it, shred what needs to be shredded, recycle what we can, and toss the rest. It's tiring.

We know if we took the time we could get rid of it on our own, but that task seems so daunting and is so far down on our list of things to do, it might never get done. Which is why we're pretty happy about GreenDimes.

They sell a junk mail reduction kit ($15) that they guarantee will reduce your home's junk mail by 90%. Buy it, and they'll also plant 10 trees on your behalf.

Here are some interesting junk mail statistics from the GreenDimes web site:

100 million trees are cut down each year to create the approximately 4.5 million tons of junk mail in the United States.

28 billion gallons of water go into the production of American junk mail annually.

We see less junk mail in our future, and our future looks so much less cluttered!

(Even if you don't buy the kit, drop by the site just to sign their "Do Not Mail Me Petition," and to get some DIY tips for staying off mailing lists.)

Image: via Kevan at Flickr.

Comments (6)

the New American Dream is an organization attempting to tackle the junk mail problem:

http://www.newdream.org/junkmail/index.php

posted by vertigo on August 9th 2007 at 12:01pm
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Joined Greendimes about a month ago and have gone from
about 6 lbs of mail on an average day to about 3 letters.
Even got rid of the junk mail addressed to previous deceased
tenant.

posted by Bourne on August 9th 2007 at 4:12pm
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I've heard that if you do "return to sender" on all of the junk mail, they'll stop sending it...eventually

posted by kmswann on August 10th 2007 at 7:05am
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41pounds is a great service that stops your junk mail – and it's a nonprofit organization. 41pounds also donates more than 1/3 of the fee to its nonprofit partners such as StopGlobalWarming.org, American Forests and Habitat for Humanity (East Bay). I signed up a few months ago and it really works! It costs only $8.20 a year (2 cents a day). You can sign up at www.41pounds.org.

posted by bluegreen on August 10th 2007 at 8:44am
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I'm doing a craft program at the library where we'll be using junk mail to make journals. I'm even using the envelopes to make little pocket dividers.

posted by Sparkiy on August 10th 2007 at 10:52am
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You can get yourself off a lot of mailing lists for the cost of a few stamps.

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/prescreen.shtm

Write the three credit reporting agencies an opt-out for life letter and they will stop sending you credit card offers. It cut down on our junk mail dramatically.

This website also has some great tips:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm

posted by BonivaGScott on August 12th 2007 at 5:09pm
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