Effects of Junk Mail on the Environment

Studies regarding junk mail (with the exception of catalogs and phonebooks) have shown that the average household gets sent only 1.5 personal letters a week while receiving in average 16 envelopes of junk mail. Doing the math, when adding up the weight of the junk mail, using a conservative estimated average weight of 2oz per letter, it amounts to 41 pounds of junk mail per house per year! The 2001 Canadian Census reported there to be 11.5 million households, which means just under one BILLION pounds of junk mail per year in Canada only. In other words, that's roughly 18 times the weight of the Titanic! If an average mailing costs 10 cents per letter, it sums up to about $250 million per year for these useless mailings, 40% of which go directly to the garbage bin unread and only 2% of which are responded to.

The worse thing about junk mail is not just the fact that we receive it. Its negative environmental impact is astounding: forests are destroyed to make pulp, toxic chemicals are used to print them, landfills are clogged, and to dispose of them is pricey, among other issues. As one can visibly understand, junk mail is not just a nuisance to us; it's to the environment as well.

The negative effects of logging to build the paper used for junk mail are everywhere. Deforestation destroys the equilibrium of forest ecosystems, which can erode the soil, destroy habitats, damage water tables, and impact on the environment in many other ways. Disappearance of forests renders the atmosphere unstable by taking away trees that would otherwise eliminate carbon dioxide (the primary greenhouse gas) from the air. The damage to the water tables that can be caused by deforestation dries drying otherwise fertile soil, which then becomes highly prone to erosion and further soil damage. Erosion due to deforestation can in turn increase the risk of drought or flooding in waterways. Erosion is not the only soil damage. Working with ground water can result in sucking away

Open Letter to Amanda Maltby | Canada Post (JUNK MAIL) No Flyer Notice

Escalate To::

Open Letter to Amanda Maltby
General Manager, Compliance and Chief Privacy Officer
Canada Post
Consumers’ Choice Program
400 Hunt Club Road
Ottawa ON K1V 1C1

Dear Ms. Maltby:
No Flyer Notice
I do not actually have a “no flyer “ notice on my mailbox, but thank you for reminding me to put one up. I am pleased to be able to confirm to you that I do not wish to have my mailbox stuffed with advertisements and other unsolicited garbage. I realize that this class of material is one of the few profitable services that remains in the current business plan of Canada Post, but I would urge you to extend your admirable conservation efforts in using recycled materials in your mailing to the preservation of our resources by not pushing the distribution of unaddressed materials and not delivering “OCCUPANT/L’OCCUPANT” mail to my address.
I appreciate that it is not in the interest of Canada Post to provide an email address to which I can direct this note, but I would urge you to provide a faster and less costly way of communication whereby I might determine that you are open to change and improvement by way of customer feedback.

Sincerely
OCCUPANT/L’OCCUPANT

ROGERS COMMUNICATION promotion letters

...as per Canada Post - Customer Service

canada post - will return to send and charge sender (charge BELL CANADA and ROGERS COMMUNICATION)

if letter is Addressed To:     HOME OWNER / RESIDENT / occupant

write on the letter: "RETURN TO SENDER REFUSED"

refuse to accept a letter or a parcel that is delivered

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/support/helpcentre/receiving/delivery_items.jsf
We are required to deliver all items in the mail stream, but you can refuse an item upon delivery. Simply inform the delivery person that you do not wish to accept the item and it will be returned to sender.
If you have already received the item, you can still return it provided that the item has not been opened and no labels have been removed. Bring the item to any Post Office and state that you want the item returned to sender.
If an item you sent has been refused by the addressee the item will be returned to you using the same service you used to send it. The fees for the return service will be charged upon delivery of the item.

Canada Post - Customer Service

1-866-607-6301 -  1 - 1 - 0 - 0 - 0

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/personal/support/helpcentre/default.jsf#Phone

...call and escalate your concerns

Prevent Unwanted Mail‎

The Red Dot Campaign is a privately funded social marketing venture. Paper is precious. Vast amounts of trees, energy, water and fossil fuels are used in the production and distribution of paper-based advertising. And yet the industry standard is a 2% response rate! That means 98% of these resources are wasted! We say its time advertisers join the 21st century and adopt data-driven print technologies, electronic communications and social marketing. The Red Dot Community will help inspire this change.

Step 1. Raise Awareness about Canada Post’s Consumer Choice Option

We applaud Canada Post’s eco-friendly Consumer Choice option that reduces waste and clutter. All you need to do is put a “No Admail” or “No Junk Mail” sign on your mailbox. * The Consumer Choice database is decremented for each person opting out, and advertisers reduce their print quantities accordingly. Refer to Canada Post's website for more details.

* Note: This opt-out policy varies by letter carrier and region in Canada. If your “No Admail” sign is ignored, call 1-866-607-6301. Some municipal notices will also be stopped. Again this varies by letter carrier and region.

Step 2. Encourage other distributors to follow Canada Post’s leadership

Lets urge community newspapers, flyer distributors and phone book companies to announce their opt-out protocol, reduce their subscriber base accordingly and be more mindful of waste and overages in their distribution process.

Step 3. Encourage advertisers to reduce unaddressed print advertising

Let’s urge advertisers to state their commitment to reducing flyers, through effective targeting, and adopting subscription-based advertising and online technologies. Canadian Tire is leading the way by moving its catalogue online.

Stop Junk Mail

What is generally known as "junk mail" can be defined as unaddressed mail, including promotional letters, flyers, and brochures.

The mailboxes of most Canadian residences see enormous quantities of junk mail pass through them each year. Many multi-family residences, like condominiums or apartment buildings, have a convienently located recycling bin right in front of the wall of mailboxes tenants can simply dispose of junk mail without having to bring it to their homes. According to the Flyer Distribution Standards Association, a quarter of Canadians discard flyers without reading them.

Canada Post's policy is that customers may opt out of receiving junk mail by displaying a sign indicating a desire to do so, or by contacting one's local postal outlet. Canada Post estimates that 5 percent of Canadian households have actually done this.

The federal government could mandate that Canada Post - a Crown corporation - simply cease to deliver junk mail to Canadian homes. The environmental impact would likely be significant.

However, a substancial portion of Canada Post's annual revenue comes from the delivery of unaddressed admail; eliminating this income stream could have a dire effect on the already-struggling institution. Further, the advertising industry contributes hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy through the production of junk mail.

Banning junk mail seems like a no-brainer from an environmental perspective. On the other hand, there are already procedures in place for Canadians to opt-out, procedures of which 95 percent of the population chooses not to avail itself. So is this a place for the government to step in and mandate change, or should well-enough be left alone?


Canada Post asks Canadians to start accepting junk mail
http://globalnews.ca/news/585922/canada-post-opts-for-junk-mail/