Stop your junk mail! Why? Because in the UK alone, 550,000 tonnes of paper is wasted on unsolicited mail every year. Unimaginable quantities of trees, water and energy are used to bombard householders with advertisements they have never asked for. It's madness.
Junk mail is by far the most polluting form of advertising. Bulk mailers can write as many reports about how 'environmentally responsible' the junk mail industry is, the fact remains that they are plundering natural resources and that they will continue to do so as long as there are trees left. Why else does Royal Mail not advertise to its customers that they can stop up to 156 pieces of unaddressed mail per year by registering with its 'Door-to-Door Opt-Out'? Why else is it not possible to register with the 'Your Choice' scheme online? Why else would the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) refuse to promote the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) on addressed junk mail?
The main junk mail opt-out schemes in the UK are all run by the same people who produce junk mail. They don't want you to opt-out and they will do nothing to make stopping unwanted mail easy and effective. Junk Buster is here to change this. While bulk mailers indulge in greenwash, we tell you what you can actually do to stop your junk mail. And while bulk mailers refuse to advertise the existence of opt-out schemes, we make it easier for you to contact these schemes. We do what bulk mailers should be doing; that is, providing a decent service for all those people who simply have had enough junk mail.
It's ridiculous to say that you care about the environment and respect people's choices on the one hand, and to try to prevent people use opt-out schemes on the other. Yet, this is exactly what the DMA – the representative of bulk mailers in the UK and the organisation behind the MPS and Your Choice – is doing. The Your Choice scheme, for instance, has purely been set up to prevent the introduction of a central junk mail opt-in scheme by the Government. Your Choice has not been designed to actually stop junk mail. The DMA has never organised a marketing campaign to promote the scheme and registering is as customer unfriendly as it could possibly be. To opt out you have to read through four pages of junk mail propaganda and warnings about the consequences of opting out before filling out and returning the actual opt-out form. A return envelope, something which junk mailers never fail to provide when they want a response, is somehow not provided.
To add insult to injury, the lengthy 'Your Choice Opt-Out Pack' does not mention that registering with the scheme is unlikely to stop even a single piece of junk mail. Your Choice is supposed to stop unaddressed junk mail delivered by members of the DMA. That might sound promising, but it's not. The bulk of unaddressed junk mail is delivered by local businesses and local junk mail distribution companies, both of which are hardly ever members of the DMA. The rest of unaddressed junk mail is delivered by Royal Mail, but they already have there own opt-out. As you may have guessed, the two opt-out schemes do not work together, even though Royal Mail is in fact a member of the DMA. Just to discourage you from opting out you have to contact both schemes separately.
We could give many more examples of how bulk mailers refuse to give people an easy way of opting out of unsolicited mail. Did you know, for example, that your registration with Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out automatically expires after just two years time and that they will opt you in again without asking? Did you know that bulk mailers can ignore your registration with the MPS by simply sending you junk mail with a generic address (that is, those annoying 'To the Occupier' mailings). We could go on and on and on. But we've said enough about junk mail…
Directories still do need a mention though. Via Junk Buster you can also contact the three main paper directories delivered door-to-door in the UK: the Yellow Pages, Thomson Local and BT Telephone Directory. Although, strictly speaking, junk mail and directories are quite different pieces of waste, they do have a lot in common. In particular, the fact that the companies who produce directories don't advise householders that they can opt out. If they don't, we will.
Most British households nowadays have the internet to find just about any information they need. Yell, Thomson Local and BT seem to be completely oblivious of this by insisting on delivering their books door-to-door throughout the UK. Don't they care that they produce piles of unwanted and unused paper? Is this a rhetorical question?
Another thing the producers of directories have in common with junk mailers is that they are good at setting up green 'talk shops' and writing extensive reports about how 'future-proof' their environmental policies are. What else can this be than greenwash if the same companies don't inform consumers that they don't have to receive directories?
So… it's over you to you now. Via Junk Buster you can contact up to six opt-out schemes in one go and stop up to 249 pieces / 11.3 kilos of junk mail. We've worked hard to create this free and friendly service. Now it's up to you to make a difference.
Stop Junk Mail Guide
This guide tells you about the most effective ways of reducing junk mail. It is a shortened version of the excellent guide to stamping out junk mail which you can find on the Stop Junk Mail website.
- Stopping Unaddressed Junk Mail
- Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out
- Your Choice Preference Scheme for Unaddress Mail
- Letterbox Sticker
- Stopping Addressed Junk Mail
- Mailing Preference Service
- Edited Electoral Register
- Preventing Junk Mail
- Tick Boxes
- Getting Off Mailing Lists
- Return to Sender
- Contact the Sender
1. Stopping Unaddressed Junk Mail
Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out
Royal Mail is currenty allowed to deliver three unaddressed items per household per week, making the company the single largest junk mailer in the UK. What's worse, it is expected that Royal Mail will soon get permission to deliver unlimited amounts of junk mail.
Opting out of the so-called 'door-to-door service' is the most effective measure you can take to reduce junk mail. It will already stop an estimated 150 pieces of junk mail per year; a figure that is likely to increase drastically in the near future!
› Request an opt-out form using Junk Buster
Your Choice Preference Scheme for Unaddress Mail
Your Choice is a new opt-out scheme for unaddressed junk mail delivered by members of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). It was hoped Your Choice would become some sort of Mailing Preference Service for unaddressed junk mail, but unfortunately the scheme has been set up willy-nilly. Registering will do little to reduce junk mail, but then it can't hurt either…
› Request an opt-out form using Junk Buster
Letterbox Sticker
A 'no junk mail' sign will stop junk mail not delivered by Royal Mail or members by the DMA; that is, the bulk of it. The stickers available in our 'No Junk' Shop also give you the option to say 'yes' or 'no' to free newspapers.
2. Stopping Addressed Junk Mail
Mailing Preference Service
The MPS is a free service that can remove your name from many direct mailing lists. You can also use the service to register a previous occupant's name at your current address.
It is a myth that the MPS will stop up to 95 per cent of addressed junk mail. Many mailing lists are made up of people who failed to tick an opt-out box when they bought a product or donated money to a charity. Unfortunately, the MPS will do nothing to stop these mailings. The MPS argues that people who don't tick those miniscule and hidden opt-out boxes want to receive junk mail.
That said, we estimate that registering with the MPS will roughly half the amount of addressed junk mail you receive. It's still well-worth registering.
› Opt-out using Junk Buster
Edited Electoral Register
Your annual electoral registration form gives you the option to opt out of having your personal details included on the 'edited version' of the electoral register. We can't recommend strongly enough that you tick the opt-out box on the form. There is absolutely no advantage whatsoever in being on the edited electoral register. The list can be bought by any person and may be used for any purpose. It's the most common source for the creation of junk mail lists.
If you're not sure whether or not you have opted-out, or if you would like to opt-out, you don't need to wait until you receive your next registration form to do so. You can opt-out at any time of the year by contacting your local elections office.
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3. Preventing Junk Mail
Tick Boxes
When you give your name and address to an organisation, for instance when you buy a product or service, look in the small print and tick the box to say that you don't want to receive mailings from that organisation.
Most businesses and charities go great lenghts to hide opt-out boxes. This is because by not ticking the box you give an organisation permission to send you junk mail. Usually they sell your personal details to other organisations, who in turn will sell your details to other companies etc. Before you know it you're on tens of mailing list and inundated with junk mail.
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4. Getting Off Mailing Lists
Return to Sender
If you receive junk mail with a return address on the envelope, write 'Unsolicited mail, please return to sender' on the envelope and put it back in the post unstamped. The sender will have to pay the return postage and may remove your details from its mailing lists.
If you receive lots of addressed junk mail, consider buying a pad with these bright return to sender labels. It makes returning junk mail a lot easier and a lot more fun…
› Get return to sender labels
Contact the Sender
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, any organisation has to stop sending you junk mail if you directly ask them to do so. Usually, it is enough to phone the sender and ask them to take your details of its mailing list. However, your request will only be legally binding if it is in writing.
Detailed guidelines for contacting bulk mailers and example letters you can use are available on the Stop Junk Mail website.
© 2009 by Stop Junk Mail, 2 Mill Hill Road, Norwich, NR2 3DP
