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Home > What else can I do? > Reduce > Junk mail
 

Junk mail

Each week the average household receives 18 pieces of junk mail, that's almost 1,000 pieces a year! Sadly most of this ends up in landfill.

An easy way for people to reduce their household waste is to say no to junk mail. Over three million trees are used each year to produce unwanted mail and there are simple steps we can all take to reduce the amount of junk mail we receive.

Five simple steps to dump the junk.

  1. Sign up to the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) to remove your name from up to 95% of direct mailing lists. Simply complete an MPS Registration Form. Visit MPS online or call 0845 703 4599 to register.
  2. Reduce the amount of unaddressed mail you receive, email your name and address to optout@royalmail.com. You will be sent a form to sign and return. Royal Mail will then stop delivering unaddressed items to your address within six weeks.
  3. Put a 'No Junk Mail' sticker on your letterbox to stop up to 90% of unwanted flyers and leaflets. You can pick one up from your local library.
  4. Write 'Return to Sender' or 'Not at this Address' to unaddressed or wrongly addressed junk mail and post back.
  5. Tick the opt-out box on your electoral registration form when you register to vote to prevent your details being used for marketing purposes. Make sure you also choose not to receive unwanted mail when you sign up to any new product or service. Write to, or phone, organisations that you receive unwanted mail from and ask to be removed from their databases.
If all else fails, make sure you recycle your junk mail.
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    Interesting Facts

    By buying products made from recycled materials you are closing the ‘recycling loop’, which is just as important as recycling itself!


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