Guy Goes Green

Wannabe green guy going green

Posts Tagged ‘junk mail’

Remove yourself from junk mail list – email template for you

November 1st, 2009

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]

1 comment »

Posted in Week 2 Junk Mail

Tags: green green mail junk mail trees waste

40 million trees a year go straight from the paper mill to the land fill

October 30th, 2009

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?

2 comments »

Posted in Week 2 Junk Mail

Tags: green junk mail recycle reuse tree waste

24 ways to stop or reuse junk mail

October 29th, 2009

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.

Put all of your junk mail in the recycling bin
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.
As junk mail comes in, contact the individual companies to be taken off of their mailing lists
Via Bohemian revolution – using shredded junk mail as packing material
Via Bohemian revolution – Use it as Easter basket grass
Via Bohemian revolution– Add flour and water to use as paper mache
Via Bohemian revolution – Ask the local animal shelter if they can use it for bedding
Via Bohemian revolution – Give this paper to kids with water colors and glue for art projects
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.
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.
If they provide envelopes, remove/hide spam information and reuse the envelope.
Gift Wrap
Use the blank side of any pages for scratch paper
Use the envelopes for holding coupons, seeds, or other small items
Make your own Gift Bag… seriously.
Make a bookmark
Make a Christmas Ornament
Make your own artsy paper
When you sign up for anything, take more precaution to make sure you are not put on their lists.
Find, suggest and support do-not-mail legislation
Use it as mulch
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.
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.
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.