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.