Junk mail is nothing but a waste of paper. Take a stand, put a "No Junk Mail" sticker on your letterbox to inform leaflets of your views and join the Mail Preference Service to make sure you never have disappointing post again. Well, apart from bills. Of course you could always request paper-free bills from your bank and utilities?
I dedicated an hour to cleaning out my junk mail and unsubscribing to all the mailing lists, which I didn't knowingly subscribe too. In a nutshell if you are receiving emails from a mailing list you do not want to be on simply unsubscribe.
an easy goal to meet - thanks to the MPS. Luckily I have a really step drive so that often puts off the leafleters from the fast food chains around me!
I've eliminated 97% of my junk mail including credit card offers :-D.
Just a heads up, this is the link to register to be removed from the direct mailing list:
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/mps_choosetype.html
There seems to be another link that comes up ahead of this in the search engines - belonging to a company called 'Direct Trace' who appear to offer a commercial service, use the MPSonline link. It's free.
Cheers.
This is going to be complicated for me, i have a post office box and i share it with 4 other people. Also, i live in the U.S. and we are like the capital of being non-eco friendly. It's depressing!
In Antwerp (Belgium), putting a sticker on your mailbox doesn't mean that you won't get junk mail.
The delivery guys keep posting small advertisements.
But there's a solution (I still have to do this): calling the environmental phone of Antwerp ;p
Then, the posters will be punished.
I'm in the US and I registered with GreenDimes - they offer free and paid services to remove and keep your name off junk mail, magazine lists. I'm looking forward to eliminating all the holiday catalogs from my overflowing mailbox!
sticking it all right into the paper recycling. Called sky to stop sending me their magazines. Called totterdales to stop them sending flyers too. a lot of junk mail comes from subscriptions to products people have it seems. So give them a call and tell them no thanks. more to be done though
I've had some fun tearing up the forms and putting them back in the supplied freepost envelope and sending them back - its keeps a post man in work too!
I volunteer at a cat shelter, and they use papers for the cat litter boxes (asa there is over 40-50 cats there daily) so in my apartment block there is a box for junk. So weekly i stop off at the entrance and go through the magazines/newspapers and take them to the cat shelter to at least make the most of what junk mail is doing. Otherwise i monthly take the newspapers to the recycling bins up the road.
I'm in Dublin, I've simply put a small sign on the letterbox that says 'NO ADVERTISING,PUBLICITY OR CIRCULARS PLEASE', it has worked a treat. We now only get stamped post. I'm working on getting myself removed from a number of mailing lists. My recycle bin is much lighter these days.
I'm in the UK and I've just registered with MPS and sent for an opt-out for unaddressed mail from Royal Mail. Hopefully, that should make a difference.
Good tips, particularly the "return to sender" one, as well as using them as arts materials, nice one ReallyAB. We put a "NO JUNK MAIL" sticker above our letter box but they still keep coming. (Did that actually work for you mrmatthamm?)
I actually wrote "NO junk mail please" on my letterbox with a DVD pen.
Signed up for 41pounds.org and donated 1/3 of the fee to carbonfund.org. I'll see how it goes and report back here to let all the busybees know how well this works. We currently receive quite a bit of junk mail.
I don't know if it can be done in Ireland but if I get junk mail I like to write 'return to sender - not here' and pop it back in the post. The company has to then pay for it twice and will hopefully take the addressee's name off the list. (whether it's me or not)
For those in the UK, the BBC have a good article (complete with video) on how to reduce junk mail - http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article/2007/12/jr_junkmail.shtml
Specifically, it covers the MPS as mentioned by others and also getting rid of the Royal Mail 'unaddressed mail'. The Royal Mail actively discourage you from doing this since they make a fair amount of money from it, but don't believe their propaganda that says you won't get 'important information from government' - this will always be directly addressed to you.
This ones a good link for those in the US where on average an adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year.www.41pounds.org stops 80-95% of unwanted catalogs and junk mail
for you. They will contact dozens of companies on your behalf to
STOP YOUR JUNK MAIL and PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT.Nice
here's how to get off junk mail lists online: http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/
I have been doing this for the last 2 years I moved into my apartment, it mostly works.
What irks me is that I receive snail mail spam from ... Oxfam ... from the UK, because I once donated through the UK site for one of their projects. Was damn sure I unchecked those "let us spam you" checkbox!
Look, junk mail recycling in action. I just made this :D
From my flickr account here: http://flickr.com/photos/fizzkitten/2345804580/
Here's a web site with the addresses for the Mail Preference Service:
http://www.lovearth.net/stopjunkmail.htm
As i'm living in studenty-type rented acccomodation, it's really worth doing this goal, though it is difficult! We get post and junk mail for the last 10 housemates, who never change their address!
I'm experimenting with calling the "for more information" number in the offers and asking to be taken off their mailing lists.
So far everyone has been really nice and all had a quick (once I was off hold) way of removing me.
Hard to say if it's working though since I only get junk from them once every three months or so. It certainly hasn't *increased* the amount of junk mail I get.
You can sign up to the mail preference service in the UK:
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/
This service is supposed to prevent unsolicited direct mail.
I do subscribe to that but it doesn't remove the bumph that the post office is paid to put directly through my door with postal deliveries..
To opt out of door-2-door deliveries you need to complete this form and return it to the stated address:
http://www.stopjunkmail.org.uk/door-to-door-form.pdf
I think one of the problems with opting out of the Post Office junk mail is that it also means you won't get delivered potentially important circulars from your local council etc
Simon, not sure where you are - but in London you should be able to pick up a sticker at your local library.
In think you can ring an post and they halt these deliveries...I think.
Just make one yourself!
I don't think it is worthwhile sticking one to your letter box. They'll be ignored a lot of the time.
You can order them from here:
http://www.stopjunkmail.org.uk/stickers/default.php
Lots of local councils also give them out - ask the environment/waste/recycling department and they'll usually send you one.
Interesting idea. I'd love to know if there was a way to stop the royal mail from putting leaflets in with my post :/
Perhaps you could leave a note asking what the rest of the residents think! Nice way of getting to know who you are sharing the house with.
I'd probably put a notice up saying 'I'm planning on puting a no junk mail sticker up - if you disagree please sign below and say which flat you are in'
If anyone disagrees, I'd probably hand deliver all the junk mail to that flat for a few weeks ;-)
I think asking around is a good idea. If there is someone in the building who really wants the coupon fliers you could suggest that they ask for a copy at the store, some stores have them on hand to give out.
Stephanie - here in the UK we very rarely get coupon flyers, much more 'buy one pizza get one free, all the time whenever, because we are desperate to stay in business'.
Really? Wow, that must really cut down on the amount of junk mail that you do get :)
Be sure to tear up the junk mail and return it in the free pay envelope that the nice junk mailers provide for the purpose.
with email spam, NEVER reply to it, and only 'unsubscribe' if its a newsletter from a reputable company you trust. if its from an untrustworthy source, replying or unsubscribing only serves to prove that your email address is active and has a real person on this end of it, and you're likely to receive more spam as a result (both from them, and from anyone they sell your confirmed email address to).
Sign up to the mail preference service, and put a note on your door saying, 'No junk mail please'
Can you recycle junk mail? I know this is supposed to be the answer section, but I was just wondering if that's an option.
