San Francisco Chronicle: The Thin Green Line -- Snail Mail Goes Digital
,March 18th, 2009
On March 23 at 1 p.m., the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on a resolution calling for a statewide Do Not Mail registry, that would allow people to opt out of junk mail catalogues and credit card offers.
So far no state has withstood opposition from the direct mail lobby to creating such a list, despite broad support from voters. Not only is there a significant consumer choice issue here; there's also an egregious environmental problem. The average American household receives 900 pieces of junk mail a year. A 100 million trees are logged to produce these mailings—for which a 2 percent response rate is considered very good. Consumers share some of the blame: Just 40 percent of U.S. mail gets recycled. Overall, mail advertisements generate greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to heating 13 million homes for the winter.
It's a case of an environmental problem Americans would be thrilled to shut down, but the government has failed to step in. (Sign a petition demanding action here.)