Junk mail is one of those things no one really wants to deal with. Whether it’s the fliers for a local sale, loud advertisements from a car yard in the next suburb, or just missives from your local politician running for re-election, you don’t even read them. As soon as you recognize what they are, you toss them straight into your recycling bin. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, however, it is worth mentioning that even if you recycle all that paper, it still took a lot of wasted resources to make that paper, print on it, and transport it to your mailbox just to throw it out.
If you really want to step up your eco-friendly game, you should opt-out of the junk mail process altogether. And if you want some help doing that, consider checking out The Marketing Association.
Get Some Help In The Fight Against Junk Mail
A survey by Ecomailbox has found the average New Zealand household receives about 33 kilograms of junk mail every year. Frequently this is junk mail we don’t want, and that most of us barely even glance at. If you do not want to receive unsolicited addressed marketing mail to your home, add yourself to the The Marketing Association ‘Do Not Mail’ register https://www.marketing.org.nz/Services/Do_Not_Mail. You can also add a ‘No Circulars’ sign to your mailbox. If you still get advertising material, call 0800 111 081 to report it. These may be small things but will make a significant impact on the amount of unwanted paper being delivered.
More than 33kg per person. Imagine if an entire town opted out. Or a city. Or a country. How many resources would that save?