About 100 million trees are ground up each year to produce junk mail (that’s the equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months), of which 44% is thrown in the trash before it is even opened. The average person receives about 1.5 personal letters each week and about 10.8 pieces of junk mail. By the end of this year, each person will have received almost 560 pieces of junk mail. Of those 560, 246.5 pieces will be tossed into the trash unread.

This surplus of junk mail is not only killing trees, it is also producing mass waste. Approximately 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard. This number is expected to rise by the year 2010 to about 48%.

So how do people find you to send you this waste? Most lists of names and addresses used in bulk mailings are in mass data-collection networks which are compiled from phone books, warranty cards and charity donations, to name a few. Each time your name is sold, these data-collection networks make between 3 cents to20 cents.

So what can you do? You can start by trying to cut down on the waste. You can do things like reuse the junk mail for scrap paper or shred the paper and use it for filler when shipping. Recycle the junk mail at your local recycling center. Or even create new things like homemade recycled paper.* You can also cut the amount of junk mail you receive. If you cut your junk mail for 5 years, you’ll conserve 1.7 trees, 700 gallons of water and prevent 460 pounds of carbon dioxide from being released into the air.

*Make recycled paper at home by cutting junk mail into small shreds, then soak it in warm water (one hour, stirring occasionally). Next, spread it out on a flat, fine-holed, wire-mesh screen and let it dry. You can also add flowers, grass, and leaves for fun, color, and texture.