Beaders Go Green!

 Their poor aching backs!

Pity the poor mail carriers.  They have to deliver untold pounds of junk mail every day.  Catalogs seem to reproduce like rabbits and credit card companies just won't give up.

My brother emailed me an interesting way to combat some of the junk mail.  Take the postage paid envelope included with so many of the offers, close it up and send it back to the company empty.  It's a little gotcha that will make you feel better for at least a few moments.  The companies of course will ignore them.  Let's just hope that they're recycling paper!

I vowed this year that I was going to put an end to useless catalogs. As each arrived I tore off the back cover making sure that it had the company's phone number on it. Then whenever I had a few minutes - waiting for the microwave to ding or during a television commercial -  I called and asked to be removed from the mailing list.  I must admit the customer services reps were all very gracious.  Occasionally they asked why and I simply told them

  • I wanted to save the trees
  • I order online
  • I've never ordered from them to begin with and where in the heck did they get my address????

Now and then I found a company that had multiple catalogs and they would read their list and mark off the ones I was receiving.  All of them said that I would receive a few more since the catalogs were printed weeks ahead.

I then wrote on the back cover the date that I called them.  This came in handy when 3 months later I was still getting catalogs.  Happily there were only two. I alphabetized the covers and stapled them together so it's easy to check for an offending company.

I have to tell you I am still amazed every time I open my mailbox and find just a few pieces of junk mail and only the catalogs I wanted to keep.

Of course, it was after I had done all this that I found out about catalogchoice.com. L (See next column)

Welcome to our  

Environmentally Friendly page!

Why should you worry about junk mail?  Here are few statistics from the Center for a New American Dream —a Maryland-based nonprofit organization that helps consumers live environmentally responsible.

  • 5.6 million tons of catalogs and other direct mail advertisements end up in U.S. landfills annually.
  • The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year—more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined.
  • 44 percent of junk mail is thrown away unopened, but only half that much junk mail (22 percent) is recycled.
  • Americans pay $370 million annually to dispose of junk mail that doesn’t get recycled.
  • On average, Americans spend 8 months opening junk mail in the course of their lives.

To read the entire article go to http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/junkmail.htm

About.com has some great ideas for handling junk mail.  Just go to their website and search "junk mail" for several articles on how to stop unwanted mailings. Here are a few of their suggestions.

Credit card offers are usually handled by credit bureaus.  To get rid of this type of junk mail go to

optoutprescreen.com

They are required by law to offer this service.  However, be sure to read everything before clicking on anything.

To remove yourself from the Direct Marketing Association's database go to

dmachoice.org

This will help get rid of a lot of the remaining junk mail.  Again, read everything before making a decision to opt out.

To limit the number of catalogs you receive you can open a FREE account at

catalogchoice.com

They also offer a way that you can spread the word on your own website or blog to get more people involved in helping the environment.

 

A happy note

One credit card company finally got the message.  I won't say which but it was one of the big 4.  After continually including plastic fake cards in their mailings, they have at last gone to cardboard ones.  I know I sent the plastic ones back with a note (in their prepaid postage envelope J) begging them to quit and obviously many others complained too.  We can make a difference!

 

Big Buzz

The New American Dream is an organization who's mission is to "help Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice."  Through programs such as C3 - Carbon Conscious Consumer Campaign and Responsible Purchasing Network  they are working to make a difference in how Americans can have a new American Dream with an "emphasis on sustainability and a celebration of non-material values"  They "envision a society that values not just 'more' but more of what matters."

To check out their programs go to newdream.org.

AUGUST TOPIC - Water consumption

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