Junk Mail Footprint |
| The Privacy Enforcers has a goal that we need your help with. We have a goal to save 1,000,000 trees. Subscribers will be supporting the enviroment by saving trees and keepin junk mail out of US landfills. |
According to a study by the Department of Energy, the paper industry is the fourth biggest producer of carbon dioxide among manufacturers. And few organizations move paper like the United States Post Office — which delivers more than 212 billion pieces of mail every year, or about 8,000 letters per second.
The E.P.A., meanwhile, estimates that of the nearly 6 million tons of standard mail generated nationwide in 2007, less than half — or about 40 percent — was recycled.
In response, the U.S.P.S. — which has received accolades from the E.P.A. for its waste reduction efforts — has installed more than 4,000 recycling stations near P.O. boxes to encourage people to recycle what they don’t want, like advertising mail.
It’s a persistent concern for environmental groups like ForestEthics. According to a report released by the nonprofit, mail advertisements create 51.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year — equivalent to the emissions generated by heating about 13 million homes during the winter, or mowing more than 20 billion lawns.
“It is hard to imagine waste more unnecessary than the 100 billion pieces of junk mail Americans receive each year,” said Dr. James Hansen, NASA’s top climate specialist, in conjunction with the report.
Indeed, roughly 44 percent of junk mail goes to landfills unopened, according to the anti-waste service 41pounds.org — its name derived from the estimated amount of junk mail received by the average adult each year. (The privacyenforcers.com promises to halt up to 95 percent of junk mail from being delivered to consumers who sign up. ) |
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Let's Junk The Junk Mail!
The only upside is the return of one per cent of the carbon lost when paper products are burned to create energy, creating a cleaner alternative to conventional fossil fuel-based energy, the report said.
"In 2005, junk mail surpassed what we call first-class mail as the majority of what the USPS [US Postal Service] was delivering," said ForestEthics spokesman William Craven. "In the last two years, 19 bills have been introduced in state legislatures in the US. None of them have yet passed. What it shows is that there is significant popular demand for a solution to junk mail, and enough so that some politicians felt that they had a stable foundation on which to introduce legislation. But there is also signficant opposition and well financed opposition to a do-not-mail registry."
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