A quick update on my Week 2 challenge of trying to stop junk mail.  I sent in a letter to the editor at our local paper (The Fargo Forum) after being sent phone books shortly after requesting to be removed from the list.  It was published and wanted to share it with you all!  The link is here, but for those having problems with the link, I am copying the text here:

Quit sending me phone books

It would really be appreciated if the phone companies would stop sending me phone books. I have asked to have my name removed from Dex, Yellowbook and 702 Communications lists, and, not more than two weeks later, I have received phone books from Yellowbook and 702 Communications.

As I stare at the eight phone books sitting before me, I really wonder how necessary all of these are. I have used a phone book probably three times in the past year, and it was certainly handy to have on those occasions, but I do not think I need this many. Really, I could just as easily have used the Internet. I do understand why households want phone books, but can you please allow me to find numbers on the Internet?

All I really want is the ability to be removed from your lists. The resources taken to create, print and deliver these phone books are annoying for me, costly for you and a detriment to our environment. More than 100 million trees are cut down every year for junk mail, and it has been reported that 40 percent of that goes straight into the garbage. I don’t want to add to that waste.

Even if you do not agree with environmental agendas, I hope we can agree that this is wasteful. Just give me an opportunity to save you money and stop sending me phone books.

A few weeks ago my green task was to reduce junk mail.  Part of what I resolved to complete was to remove myself from the mailing list for phone books.  Of the 100 million tons of junk mail created every year, I wonder how much of that is phone books.  Well, I thought my phone book receiving days were over.  Yet… yesterday… sitting on my front porch was a Yellowbook phone book.  STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

It was a little discouraging to see that on my stoop shortly after resolving not to receive them any longer.  Possibly I am being a bit anxious since I just put myself on the list a few weeks ago, so possibly that was the last phone book.  They were actually really awesome and sent me an email fairly quickly.  Heather from Yellowbook told me, “I have added you to our Opt Out List. In the future, we will not deliver the Yellowbook to your address but we will send out a postcard once every two years to confirm that you still reside at the same address and that you still wish to remain off of our distribution list. “I really do appreciate the try Heather and I am sure you are a very nice person, but STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

There is a positive side to having another phone book though.   The Yellowbook phone book came in an awesome Yellowbook bag.  Even before I was trying to be green, I would re-use any plastic bags we did manage to collect and I would pick up my dog’s poop with it.   I am sure there is a better way to do that, but that is a future story.  So, the Yellowbook bag got the doo doo treatment.  I do have quite a few bags saved up though, so please do not spend your resources getting it to me and please STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

Finally, I really do appreciate the quick service you provided and I am hoping that being removed from the list just has been a timing problem, but if not… please… with cherries on top… STOP SENDING ME PHONE BOOKS!

Over the past week, I have learned quite a bit about junk mail and the impact it is having on the environment.  Although this is only my second task, I believe this may be one of the tasks that end up having the biggest impact on my long term behavior and on the environment.  Not only is it staggering how much waste junk mail generates, but also how easy it is to stop and reuse.

A few days ago I created a list of 24 ways to stop or reuse junk mail and I have either completed or am working on several of these items.  I admit that we already have been putting much of the junk mail into the recycle bin, but this is mostly Ashley’s doing.  I will do my best to be a bit better about separating these items.  I went to www.dmachoice.org & OptOutPrescreen.com to remove myself from junk mail mailing lists.

Every day that I receive junk mail, I note the company that is sending it and contact them directly to get myself removed from the lists.  I even created a template that I use and you are more than welcome to take.  I write down the companies I contact and hang it on the fridge in order to keep track of the companies that should not be sending me things.

I have 6 phonebooks from four different companies.  I have contacted each of these to stop sending me these phone books.  Honestly, I have no need for these anymore since I have the internet.   At most, we should only need one.  I certainly do not need 6 phonebooks delivered to my house.

Finally, I am going to try and save the junk mail we receive to try some of the other suggestions I put on my list.  I am not sure exactly what I am going to do, but I do think it would be fun to try some of the crafts like Franke James’ suggestion of gift wrap or the Daily Green’s suggestion of making artsy paper.  We will see….. Possibly I will save up my junk mail all year and make one of the most epic paper mache statues of all time. 

Well, Ashley, I hope I have made you proud this week with the progress I have made on stopping junk mail.  Beyond any ‘green’ agendas, junk mail is one big waste of our resources and a huge annoyance.  I have honestly learned something this week and will continue to be vigilant on this.

This week’s challenge is officially ending today, but this green guy (me) will continue to be vigilant on removing myself from junk mail lists.  There will be more on this task, as well as the new task, tomorrow morning, but I wanted to make sure to share.  This week I put together a small template that I have been sending to companies informing them to remove me from their mailing list.  Also… possibly…. just possibly, it might change the habits of those reading the email.  I am posting the template here for you to use if you would like:

Dear XXX,

Please remove me from your mailing list.  Although I may enjoy your product or possibly have done business with you, I would like you to stop sending me junk mail as a matter of preserving trees.  Over 100 million trees are cut down every year for junk mail.  Over 40% of junk mail ends up going straight into the garbage without being opened or looked at.  These two statistics combined imply that 40 million trees go straight from the paper mill to the land fill and I would like to do my part to stop this.  Hopefully, I can save a tree or two by reducing the mail that I ignore and possibly you can too.  My address is as follows:

{YOUR ADDRESS HERE}

Thank you,

[Your Name]

My second week in this adventure is drawing to a close and I must admit that I have been learning quite a bit this week.  The challenge for the week is to stop junk mail from coming to our house.  In this process, I have learned just how wasteful we are in regards to junk mail and also some things we can do to help reduce the problem.

This has now been repeated here several times, but over 100 million trees are cut down every year for junk mail.  I can’t get over that.  I cannot even begin to imagine what 100 million trees looks like.  Beyond that, about 40% of junk mail goes into the trash unopened.  Does that mean that 40 million trees go straight from the paper mill to the land fill?  To me, it is one thing to be wasteful in the process of doing something, but this is a kind of collective wastefulness is just plain’ old wrong.

This is the kind of waste that I (as a person new to the green culture) just had no idea about.  Well, the end of the line has come for this guy.  I have already began the process of making sure I can reduce my impact on these rediculous statistics and hope that I will be able to stop or reuse as much junk mail as possible.  What do you do with your junk mail?

I have learned that over 100 million trees are cut down every year to make junk mail.  Another stat I found is that 44% of all junk mail ends up in the garbage unopened.  To me, this means that 44 million trees are cut down every year for basically no reason at all.  This waste serves no purpose and is such a waste.  Not only is junk mail a waste, it is annoying.  So, the following is a list of interesting things you can do to reuse, recycle and stop junk mail.

1. Put all of your junk mail in the recycling bin
2. Go to www.dmachoice.org and sign up to be taken off of mailing lists.  This was fairly easy to do, but not sure on the overall effectiveness.  This does not remove you from mailings with companies you have previously done business with.
3. As junk mail comes in, contact the individual companies to be taken off of their mailing lists
4. Via Bohemian revolution – using shredded junk mail as packing material
5. Via Bohemian revolution – Use it as Easter basket grass
6. Via Bohemian revolution– Add flour and water to use as paper mache
7. Via Bohemian revolution – Ask the local animal shelter if they can use it for bedding
8. Via Bohemian revolution – Give this paper to kids with water colors and glue for art projects
9. Go to OptOutPrescreen.com or call 888-567-8688 and stop getting junk mail from Credit Cards.  Just a warning that they require you to give your SSN.  I found several sources online indicated that this is a valid way to remove yourself from this list.
10. Stop getting the phone book. Holy crap, I don’t think I look up 2 numbers a year but get 6 phone books.   What a waste.  I have not done this yet, but will.
11. If they provide envelopes, remove/hide spam information and reuse the envelope.
12. Gift Wrap
13. Use the blank side of any pages for scratch paper
14. Use the envelopes for holding coupons, seeds, or other small items
15. Make your own Gift Bag… seriously.
16. Make a bookmark
17. Make a Christmas Ornament
18. Make your own artsy paper
19. When you sign up for anything, take more precaution to make sure you are not put on their lists.
20. Find, suggest and support do-not-mail legislation
21. Use it as mulch
22. Use it as kitty litter(only 30% though… see comments).  Ok, I am not sure I can get on board with this one, but am very impressed someone is doing this.
23. Send junk mail back to senderif there is a pre-paid envelope.  I even found some stories of adding as much weight as possible to the return envelope.  This is a little vindictive I suppose, but kind of funny.
24. Make a junk mail pirate hat or a junk mail Speedo.  I have no plans for either of these, but think they are good ideas anyhow.

Let me know what you think and please add any that you can think of.

In choosing my second topic for this blog, I consulted my list of ways I would like to see my husband go green.  However, the topic I selected wasn’t on my list at all.  This is something that I have always frustrated me, but I just never did anything about.  I had come across this link that gives stats and a visual description of how much companies use to produce those junk catalogs that we don’t even look at anyways.  Also as Ben said, 41 pounds of junk mail is what an average person receives a year, most of which we don’t even look at.  This is what made me want to take action, once and for all.

Many people argue that you can just recycle the catalogs that you receive instead of throwing them away.  But I have a better idea.  Removing your name from mailing lists not only saves the forests that are cut down, the oil extracted and water needed to produce these catalogs, but it will also save you “70 hours a year” while sorting through junk mail.  Now I work at a company that sends out catalogs to customers each year, so I understand how it works.  You purchase from one company; they can then sell your name to other catalog companies. 

There are many resources out there now to remove your name from mailing lists.  I am new at this but so far I have signed up at DMAchoice.org, and catalogchoice.com.  These websites seem easy to navigate and user friendly.  I have yet to encounter a problem.  Throughout the year we will keep tabs on what type of junk mail we get and remove our names from their mailing lists.  I think that one year of this will mean many more years of junk mail freedom.

I have begun the process of removing my name from junk mailing lists and have found some useful tools in this endeavor.  For those just joining, I am on a 52 week mission to go green.  My wife assigns me a new task every week and this week’s task is to reduce the amount of junk mail I receive.  Not only a good thought for those trying to go green, but also for all of the folks out there that are annoyed at the amount of trash they receive in the mail.  This is the first update of this week’s task and I have already learned quite a bit.

I think it will be very unlikely that I can eliminate all junk mail, but this task appears to be a relatively easy process and can have a large impact.  Not only is junk mail an annoyance, it is horrible on our environment.  According to 41pounds.org, 41 pounds of junk mail is sent to every adult citizen every year and 44% of that ends up in the landfill unopened.  I wonder how they chose their name? 

Junk mail is one big waste of time, energy and our environment.  Approximately 100 million trees are destroyed every year to produce the junk we get in the mail.  These are the same trees that help fight global warming, but are prematurely cut… many of which just end up in a landfill with no eyes ever seeing the words printed on the paper made from these trees.  They also indicate that 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce and recycle junk.   Furthermore, it wastes time, landfill resources and local tax money.

Now one might ask exactly how to reduce junk mail.  One can join a site such as https://www.dmachoice.org/, where they appear to help the public reduce the amount of junk mail a person gets.   Its users can pick and choose what companies send them information.  This seems like it will be very useful, but I cannot speak to its efficiency.  Ashley pointed me to this site and I do not think she signed up too long ago either… so the results are outstanding, but hopeful.

I do not think this site can stop junk mail from businesses that I have done business with.  To remedy this, I am contacting these companies directly to see if they will remove me from their lists.  This may take a while since I have probably signed up for a thing or 100 that puts me on a list somewhere.  So, I will continue to mail these companies as I receive junk. 

All in all, I think I am off to a good start this week in both understanding the environmental impact of junk mail as well as reducing the amount of junk mail I receive.  This concludes my first update on this task and will have additional and hopefully better information in the near future.  Please let me know in the comments area if you have any great ideas to eliminate, reduce or even reuse junk mail.