You receive more junk mail than regular 1st-class mail every year. By decreasing your junk mail, you'll save trees, save waste, decrease pollution, save time, and save the mail carrier’s back because he or she won’t have to deliver mail that you don't read anyway.

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TAKE ACTION TODAY

  1. Write "Please do not rent or sell my name" next to your name whenever you enter a contest, make a purchase or donation, join a buyer's club, order a product by mail, subscribe to a magazine, or return a warranty card.
  2. Call the customer service number of the company or organization that is sending you unwanted mail and ask to be removed from its list.
  3. Remove your name from several national mailing lists through the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service. You can register online or by mail. This service is available only to residential addresses, and your request is honored for five years.
  4. Contact major consumer credit bureaus to have your name removed from mailing lists used for credit offers.
FACTS

  • Junk-mail deliveries surpass the U.S. Postal Service 1st class mail—over 100 billion pieces of junk mail are sent annually.
  • Even though 44% of all junk mail is discarded without being opened, people will still spend 8 months of their lives opening junk mail.
  • Only 2% of junk mail gets a response.
  • 100 million trees are needed to produce the annual supply of bulk mail—that's the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
  • Over $350 million taxpayer dollars are spent annually to dispose of junk mail that does not get recycled.
  • 5.8 million tons of catalogs and other direct-mail advertisements end up in landfills annually.
  • The average person receives only 1.5 personal letters each week, compared to 10.8 pieces of junk mail—over 500 pieces of junk mail per person per year.
  • Paper is predicted to take up 48% of our landfills by 2010.

More Ways to Make Your Mondays Matter
Eat healthy
Have AMBER alerts sent to you
Turn off your TV
Excerpted from: Every Monday Matters: 52 Ways to Make a Difference by Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza Copyright © 2008 Every Monday Matters LLC. Excerpted by permission of Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published 09/12/2009

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