I saw this poster at the Pittsburgh Airport. It depicts the resources used and waste created junk mail, starting with the forest and ending with the landfill. This poster is part of an exhibit by Recycle Runway.
Project Runway is a collection of elegant recycled
garments that raises environmental consciousness through exhibits in airports across
the country.
I suspect most of us know that junk mail comes from trees, that dyes and bleaches of the printing process contaminates our land and water, that energy is consumed in its creation and that even more energy is needed to process and deliver it to us at home. Did you know, though, after all of that, 44% of junk mail is never even opened? And 65% of it goes into the landfill? Are we happy that 35% is recycled? Yes and no. Additional energy is still needed to process it back into a usable resource.
Do something about it.
- Sign the Do Not Mail petition. The goal is to get legislation to have a "no mail" list in the same way we were able to stop telemarketers through a "no call" list.
- Use a service like StopTheJunkMail to send requests to companies whose catalogs you do not wish to receive. I used this service a couple of years ago which did slow the catalogs but I need to be more vigilant as new catalogs show up.
- Be proactive in reducing your email. StopJunkMail.org has sample letters you can use to help reduce the amount of junk mail you receive.
- Get the above five-foot-wide poster from RecyleRunway and use it to encourage others to proactively stop junk. (At least follow the link and see a better picture of the poster than I was able to get through the display case!)
