Factsheets

Junk mail - how to stop the papers trail

Oct 07 08:57am

The facts on junk mail are shocking.

  • In Australia 9 billion articles of junk mail are produced each year.
  • On top of that there are 650 million articles of addressed promotional material.
  • The average Australian home receives 1,000 pieces of unwanted junk mail each year.
  • It's estimated that 100 million trees are harvested each year to produce junk mail. 

So to stem the endless flow of paper ads clogging your letterbox and felling forests, try these:

To limit the amount of junk mail you receive in your letterbox:

  •     Put a "No Junk Mail" sign on your letter box.
  •     Contact the Distribution Standards Board by calling 1800 676 136 or on the Australian Catalogue Association website.
  •     Contact the Australian Direct Marketing Authority on 02 9277 5400 and put your name on their “Do not mail” list.  Your name will be circulated to list brokers and after six weeks addressed promotion mail will decrease.

An additional problem in the junk mail issue is that young deliverers of the material regularly dump piles of the paper advertisements in bushland.

Levi, now 28, told Sunrise that when he had the job of pamphlet delivery as a teenager, he would often find the job took too long and he would simply dump the bundles in nature reserves behind houses.

Levi says low payment was part of the reason he turned to leaving the pamphlets and never delivering them.

"I was only paid twenty-five dollars for about 750 houses and that would take me three afternoon's work - so about ten hours," he says.

"I once caught someone else doing it and from then on decided that it wasn't worth delivering the lot. So, i dumped them."

 

 

 

 

11 Comments Report Abuse
11. maxinatlanta76 - Nov 08 03:38pm
Save the time for yourself.

http://awakening.weebly.com/sto p-junk-mail.html
Leave your comments You must sign in to leave a comment

latest videos

Paulini has lived a life of highs and lows - from amazing musical success down to the trauma of an abusive ex-boyfriend. She shares her story.

Video

today's thought

Friends are like bras - they're always there for support, but sometimes they can be a bit difficult. - Natasha, NSW

Do you have a thought for Mel?

Special Offer

All the latest deals from Jetstar

Latest offers

soapbox

Kurt Fearnley: I was relief teaching in Blayney when I met Kurt as a young school boy. The first thing that struck me was his smile and contagious positive outlook at all times. I see nothing has changed with this outstanding Australian. Although I never saw him again, it is a testament to the power of his personality that I have not forgotten him more than 15 years later.

Email Sunrise