Reduce is one of the 3 R’s we use to help us remember to live sustainably. With roughly 20 minutes you can effectively reduce your junk mail. Each year 4 million tons are sent with nearly half unopened.
Your name, address, and buying habits are regularly sold & traded on the open market. Today organizations you deal with virtually all sell your name unless you specifically ask them to stop.
• Stop before it starts: When you donate money, order a product or service or complete a warranty card, write in large letters, “Please do not sell my name or address.” This will prompt the organization to mark your name in the computer.
• First Class Mail: To handle first class mail, simply cross out the address and bar code, circle the first class postage and write “refused: return to sender”. Drop in any mail box, it will be returned to the sender.
• Credit offers: One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis. Dial 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day.
• Catalogs: Opt out of catalogs and other mailings by going to www.catalogchoice.org or www.dmachoice.org and completing the online forms.
It takes a few weeks to see the results of opting out. During that time use the backs of the paper for notes and reuse envelopes to hold receipts or small items that need to be organized. When you are finished remember to keep your paper recycling bin nearby to make it easy to recycling all that unwanted mail. Recycle, Reduce, Reuse. Make the 3 R’s apart of your every day.
