Ways to Recycle and Reduce Your Mailbox Clutter

There are many ways a person can help the environment, and one of the many ways you can reduce your carbon footprint is by reducing your mailbox clutter. Not only will it save paper, but it will save you headaches as you go through your daily pile of mail. The best way to remember what you can do is to think of the phrase “reduce, reuse, and recycle.”

Reducing the amount of mail you receive is the best step, as this stops the paper before it even gets to you. When you get a piece of junk mail, you can contact them directly and ask to be removed from their list. However, that can take a while and won’t guarantee getting rid of all the junk mail you receive. Another preventative measure you can take is whenever you fill out a form for an organization, whether it’s a membership application or a warranty form, make sure to indicate you do not want your information rented, sold, or traded to other organizations.

If you want to reduce the amount of junk mail you receive, send a letter to the Direct Marketing Association asking to be removed from all its members’ mailing list. There are actually a couple of postal addresses available, but you can also go online at http://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/ or https://www.dmachoice.org/dma/member/regist.action to either register online or download a form to mail in. If you have multiple names you want to remove (or multiple versions of your name), it makes more sense to send a letter that encompasses all the various spellings and versions of your name and address. This unfortunately will not stop items addressed to resident or occupant, but will make a major dent in the amount of junk mail you receive. Keep in mind, it will normally take about six months for you to be completely removed from the mass mailings, and it’s recommended to contact these organizations every couple of years.

Also, don’t forget to contact the various agencies you receive bills for and see if they provide notices via e-mail, which will save not only the envelopes and bills, but also the various marketing materials these companies typically include with your statement. You can save even more paper by not mailing your payments; many banks offer an online bill pay program, and most companies offer a way to pay your bill either via their website or by calling them.

Reusing is another option for many of the materials you get in your mailbox. If you subscribe to magazines, you can see if there are others that are interested in the same topic who can’t afford a subscription themselves. Catalogs can also be passed along to other interested parties. You might also contact your local library to see if they’re interested in the magazine issues for archival purposes. Newspapers, too, can be reused for schools interested in the information for various projects.

Magazines and catalogs can also be used in crafts. Whether it’s someone you know who’s into scrapbooking or a nearby daycare center that needs these supplies for the various projects they have the children work on, the paper is great for using in collages and other artwork. You can also use them in decorating, using the pages toward pieces of art or in making the cards you send out to family and friends.

There are also resources online for how to use catalogs for wrapping paper, which not only reuses the catalog but helps the environment further as most wrapping is not recyclable. If you’re especially crafty, there are even ways to literally recycle the paper – using the old paper to make new paper. You might be able to reuse the paper as scratch paper if there are empty pages, and catalog pages can also be used as bookmarks.

If you have access to a shredder, there are several ways you can reuse magazines and catalogs, not to mention newspapers. Shredded paper is great to use as packing material for mailing packages. For the crafty, the shredded paper can also be used as paper mache. Shredded newspaper is perfect for lining animal cages as well, and there are some who say you can train cats to use it as litter. Check with your vet, though, before investing too much time in doing this.

Finally, recycle everything you can. From catalogs to the outer envelopes of birthday cards, almost every piece of mail you receive can be recycled. Check your nearby recycling center to see what types of paper they recycle and whether they require it to be separated out by type (i.e., newspaper versus office paper). It’s easy to set aside a box to place the paper, and there are even some nonprofits that accept recycled paper as part of a fundraiser.

If you just follow the motto of reduce, reuse, and recycle, you will see a significant decrease in the amount of excess mail and save the environment as well. It’s win-win!