San Francisco Chronicle -- How to curtail junk mail
,March 19th, 2009
Junk mail is changing from an everyday annoyance to a global-warming bad guy. Conservation groups are amping up the pressure to cut down the flow - such as credit card pitches, catalogs and supermarket circulars - in the name of saving landfills, transportation fuel and trees.
The
numbers are staggering. The average household receives over 800 pieces
of junk mail per year. It's a mighty river that totals 30 percent of
the world's snail mail. The brochures, letters and inserts equal 100
million trees per year, according to ForestEthics, an enviro group
that's pushing for stricter federal rules.
Next week San Francisco supervisors will consider a resolution by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who originated the once-ridiculed but now considered visionary plastic-bag ban.
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