Reduce Your Junk Mail

Reduce the Amount of Junk Mail You Receive

If you’re interested in living a more eco-friendly lifestyle, here’s something you can do that will help protect the environment and preserve your sanity: reduce the amount of junk mail you receive.

According to information from sources such as the Center for a New American Dream (CNAD)—a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that helps people consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice—reducing the amount of junk mail you receive will save energy, natural resources, landfill space, tax dollars, and a lot of your personal time. For example:

5.6 million tons of catalogs and other direct mail advertisements end up in U.S.
landfills annually.

The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year—more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined.

44 percent of junk mail is thrown away unopened, but only half of all junk mail (22 percent) is recycled.

Americans pay $370 million annually to dispose of junk mail that doesn’t get recycled.

On average, Americans spend 8 months opening junk mail in the course of their lives.
http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/junkmail.htm