We’ve mentioned before that junk mail destroys 100 million trees per year. That’s like cutting down every tree in the Rocky Mountain National Forest, three times over. But what does that actually MEAN? It’s hard to wrap our brains around a forest. How about these stats, from newdream.org:

• There were 5.8 million tons of catalogs and direct mailings thrown away in the U.S. in 2005, which is enough to fill more than 450,000 garbage trucks. If you park those trucks end to end, the line would stretch from Albuquerque to Atlanta.

• If you combine the energy used in both making and disposing of direct mail, you get more energy than 3 million cars would use. Another report by ForestEthics says that cutting trees and producing junk mail releases the same amount of greenhouse gases as 9 million cars. That would mean that junk mail produces as much pollution as seven U.S. states combined. 

• The amount of direct mail sent in the U.S. has gone up from 35 billion pieces in 1980 to 100 billion pieces in 2005. That means that every man, woman and child in the U.S. gets 300 pieces of junk mail per year.

• Most people spend a total of eight months of their life opening junk mail. That’s just what gets opened; 44% is thrown away unopened.

Had enough? No one wants to spend eight months of their life reading junk mail, and the impact of junk mail on the environment is disturbing.

Want to help? Privacy Council offers a low-cost service to help you remove your name from the major mailing lists, but there are other ways you can contribute to reducing the impact of junk mail on the environment, as well. First, sign the petition at Do Not Mail. This petition is an effort to create a national Do Not Mail Registry that would work the same way as the Do Not Call Registry: merchants would not be permitted to contact people on the registry except in certain circumstances. If such a registry is ever created, it could drastically reduce the amount of junk mail the average person receives, just as the Do Not Call Registry has cut down on telemarketer phone calls.

Second, recycle! Despite myths to the contrary, recycling paper does save more energy than harvesting virgin paper. Make sure you shred any junk mail that has your personal information in it, such as credit card offers, in order to protect your identity. You can use the shreds for packing materials, if you like, but put everything else in the recycling bin. If you’re not sure whether your city recycles or how to get a recycling bin, contact your city office.

Last, try to reduce your overall mail (junk and otherwise) by signing up for paperless service from your bank, cell phone carrier, etc. You can go onto company websites and request that the company stop sending paper statements and instead send you email notifications so that you can conduct business online without handling any paper (or paying for stamps!). This overall reduction in your mail will help keep both your mailbox and our landfills less clogged with paper.

Junk mail may be a curse, but until marketing companies stop using it, there are ways to deal with it. Help the environment (and your own sanity) by trying these tips today.