Did you know junk mail also comes at a huge cost to the environment?
Every day in the forest of northern Canada, majestic trees are cut to stumps—at a rate of 2 acres a minute, 24 hours a day—to produce junk mail and other paper products. These trees are not only critical in combating climate change by absorbing carbon from the earth’s atmosphere; they are also home to native peoples who watch helplessly as they lose everything they know to corporate paper company interests. Read more junk mail facts.
5 Tips to Stay Off Junk Mail
Getting off junk mail can be as easy as a few clicks with our new service. On the other hand, staying off junk mail can take a bit more effort. Here are 5 surefire ways to do it.
The #1, Must-Practice Tip: Use the magic words "Please do not rent, sell, or trade my name or address."
These are the magic words you’ll want to use when you’re filling out forms like warranty cards, subscriptions, raffles, customer information cards, credit card applications, memberships for an organization, or pretty much any time your submit your name and address to anyone. Write them out next to your personal information, and repeat these words when making purchases over the phone or on the internet, and Voilá! You'll stay off mailing lists.
A note about warranties: Be advised that it is not necessary
to fill out a warranty card to benefit from the warranty on your
purchase. Warranty and registration cards are usually just a way to get consumer information
from you which is then often sold to direct mailers. Read the fine print to see if you are required to return the card to validate the warranty.
Tip # 2: Get on “in house” credit card lists
Contact your personal credit card companies and ask them to place your name and information on their "in house” list that is not sold or traded to other companies. This will prevent more credit card offers from being mailed to your home.
Tip # 3: Prevent charity solicitations
If you contribute once a year to a charitable organization, ask them to send you only one donation request per year, or see if they can send you a paperless request via e-mail. Click here for a sample letter that you can send to charities to reduce solicitations.
Tip # 4: Watch out for contests and free offers
Their purpose is often to obtain your name for mailing lists or to sell you something. If you do sign up for one, be sure to use the magic words.
Tip # 5: 1-800-NO THANKS
When you receive a catalog or publication you don’t want, take the 30 seconds it requires to nip it in the bud. Call the 1-800 number to have your name removed from their list to stop the spreading of your name before it starts again.
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FAQs about Eco-Cycle's Stop Junk Mail for GOOD service
I’m a Boulder County resident. Do I have to pay for these junk mail services?
Can I stop junk mail at my Boulder County business with this service?
If I don’t live or work in Boulder County, do I have to pay for Catalog Choice services?
Why is Eco-Cycle supporting this program?
How is stopping junk mail good for the planet?
FAQs about Junk Mail
What is junk mail?
Why should I care about junk mail?
How can I support this junk mail program?
Is there anything I can do to stop junk mail on a larger scale?
I’m a Boulder County resident. Do I have to pay for these junk mail services?
No! Eco-Cycle has partnered with Catalog Choice to provide these services at no charge. This means that all Boulder County residents, businesses, and even those who work in Boulder County and live elsewhere can sign up for FREE for two services that will help you 1) stop unwanted mail and phone books, and 2) get unlisted to prevent marketers from sharing your name in the first place.
Can I stop junk mail at my Boulder County business with this service?
Yes! Just sign up with your business’s name and address to get started.
If I don’t live or work in Boulder County, do I have to pay for Catalog Choice services?
Catalog Choice provides two main services for folks across the United States: One is free, and one requires a donation (if you don’t live or work in Boulder County). The free service allows you to stop unwanted mail and phone books from showing up at your home no matter where you live. Catalog Choice also provides a “get unlisted” service for a donation of $20 or more. Getting unlisted means your personal information will be removed from marketers’ lists, which prevents junk mail from being sent in the first place. Learn more about Catalog Choices services.
Why is Eco-Cycle supporting this program?
Our mission at Eco-Cycle is to help make Boulder County a model Zero Waste community—and that doesn’t just mean provide recycling and composting services. Zero Waste includes stopping unnecessary waste before it starts to prevent the environmental damage that occurs when a product is manufactured, i.e. before it even gets to consumers. By stopping unwanted mail, you are preventing the clearcutting of forests, the destruction of entire ecosystems that are home to indigenous animals and peoples alike, as well as the energy used to transport the raw natural resources and manufacture them into paper. Unfortunately, the destruction doesn't end there: Most junk mail is trashed, not recycled, which contributes to climate change. Read more about Zero Waste and climate change.
How is stopping junk mail good for the planet?
Junk mail comes at a huge cost to our environment. More than 109 billion pieces of direct mail were produced and distributed in the U.S. in 2009. It took more than 100 million trees to create all this bulk mail – that’s the equivalent of deforesting all of Rocky Mountain National Park every four months. Even though most junk mail can be recycled, one-third of all mail still ends up in landfills or incinerators. Nearly two-thirds of phone books are trashed every year. And all this comes at a cost to our climate as well: The production and disposal of junk mail consumes more energy than 3 million cars.
All in all, stopping junk mail helps prevent the destruction of natural resources, saves energy, and helps prevent climate change by preventing waste in the first place. It also saves you time and frustration on a daily basis!
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What is junk mail?
Junk mail consists of all the credit card offers, catalogs, flyers, coupons, phone books and other mailings you didn't ask for and don't want.
Why should I care about junk mail?
Junk mail comes at a huge cost to our quality of life. Sorting, reading and recycling junk mail takes time away from your daily activities—you could spend up to eight months of your life dealing with junk mail. Eight months! Junk mail endangers your privacy by sharing your name, address and purchasing habits with marketers around the country. It fills your mailbox with credit card offers and other mailings that could put your identity at risk if in the wrong hands. Junk mail also results in clutter, yet another blow against your quality of life.
We have the power to reverse all of these negative impacts by simply choosing to receive only the mail we want.
Support legislation to reduce junk mail and other unwanted solicitation
Many states are considering legislation to create do not mail registries similar to the current do not call lists. Find updates on proposed state do not mail registry bills.
Seattle, WA is the first U.S. city to regulate the distribution of unwanted phone books. Residents and businesses can unsubscribe from phone books and distributors must honor these requests. Phone book distributors will pay the city 14 cents per book annually to cover the city's costs of managing phone books, based on the product stewardship principle of holding manufacturers responsible for covering the costs to recycle their end-of-life products.
San Francisco, CA now requires phone books can only be delivered to residents and businesses who wish to receive the phone books, and prohibits the common practice of dropping unsolicited phone books on every doorstep in the city.
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