Can You See the Forest Through the Trees?

Here’s a quick question. Why should you act to reduce the amount of junk mail sent to your home? It’s the trees. If you care about trees then you should care about reducing junk mail. The average American home receives 1.5 trees in their mailbox in the form of unsolicited mail every year. That adds up to over 100 million trees cut down and over 28 billion gallons of water consumed to produce one year’s worth of this country’s junk mail.

If you don’t care about trees … and I know there are a few of you out there … think about the energy. Cutting down trees, producing paper, printing mail, and delivering mail all require energy. In case you haven’t heard, our supply of energy is limited and using it wisely is a good idea. Imagine how our foreign policy might be different if we used our energy more wisely.

And if you don’t care about trees and don’t believe that our energy supplies are limited, perhaps you’re concerned about global warming. Yes, global warming is apparently not just a concern of Al Gore’s anymore. Even our current federal government is beginning to take steps to address global warming and our own state has passed a landmark law designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Remember those 100 million trees mentioned above that are cut down every year to make U.S. junk mail? Well they would be sufficient to offset the greenhouse gasses released by every personal vehicle registered in San Francisco-three times over! 

Lastly, if you aren’t worried about any of the above concerns, just think about your time and space. We just returned from a brief trip and I spent 15 minutes sorting through the mail and instantly recycled 90 percent of it. Sure, you can recycle junk mail, but it is even better to stop getting it.

So Morgan Hillians unite! You can take action to stop this waste and help fight global warming. It’s much easier than you think.

n Go online or call and request the FREE Stop Junk Mail Kit.

n Online at www.StopJunkMail.org

n Call, toll-free, 877-STOPWASTE (786-7927).

The Stop Junk Mail Kit shows you how to get off junk mailing lists and keep new junk mail from finding its way to your mailbox. The Kit also provides other important information on how to ensure that your name and address don’t get traded, rented, or sold to companies who send you unwanted mail.

The Stop Junk Mail Kit outlines five things you can do to stop junk mail:

1. Fill out and mail two pre-printed postcards included in the kit

(addressed to the top two mailing houses) requesting your name be taken off mailing lists. 

1. Call, write or e-mail the major Direct Mail House, Credit Card, Computer Disk, Sweepstakes and Shopping Flyer companies to request to be taken off mailing lists.

2. Reminder to write on the bottom of donation checks and mail orders – “Do Not Sell My Name.”  And, when ordering by phone or online, make sure to tell the company not to sell your name or send promotional mail.

3. Use sample letter to send to catalog companies to request to be taken off mailing list.

4. Contact your service providers such as insurance, banks, wireless providers, etc. and ask them not to send you promotional material.

Bay Area cities, counties and businesses are working together with the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition (BayROC), to save our national resources by sponsoring the “Junk Mail Reduction Campaign.” The campaign consists of radio commercials, public service announcements, articles in local and regional newspapers and newsletters, all asking Bay Area residents and businesses to make a special effort to help reduce the amount of junk mail that comes to their homes and offices.

Eco-Fact of the Week: Remember that you can recycle the unwanted mail that you receive in your mixed paper recycling. If you need a larger mixed- paper recycling container, call South Valley Disposal and Recycling at 842-3358.

Eco-Web Pages of the Week: If you like to learn more about this regional campaign, visit

http://www.bayarearecycling.org/.

Anthony Eulo is a program administrator for the City of Morgan Hill. His wife recently vowed to reduce the flow of catalogs into their home. We’ll see. He welcomes your questions, comments and thoughts and can be reached at 779-7247 or [email protected] .