No Junk Mail Here...

In a bid to support my daughter I am currently going -

- without junk mail! Yes, hard I know!

Anika decided that too many trees are wasted in making junk mail, and that we needed a NO JUNK MAIL sign. Daddy and her made this a project and produced, printed and laminated their own homemade sign.

Now I have previously thought about doing this (after I watched a Greeny episode of Oprah that told of all the waste junk mail produces) but there were just a few catalogues I didn't want to give up! Being in the city we receive a LOT of junk mail... sometimes I wish I could make a sign that says " NO Junk Mail { except for X and X and X } I don't really need the cars guide, 2 of the local magazine wannabees, liquor mart, most restaurants, massage, hair, 2 men and a truck removalists, etc etc but I want the Target, Big W, KMart and Myer....

So we have been junk mail free for 3 weeks now... and I can say .... IT feels GREAT!

Nothing to throw in the bin (and with all this rain, most of the junk mail is a sopping mess) nothing to think about buying and I don't know that I am missing any great sales! And Anika feels good every day she checks the box and says YES! No junk mail!

Here are some guilty facts for you all!!

*Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail

*250,000 homes could be heated with one day's supply of junk mail

*Americans receive 4 million tons of junk mail every year - equivalent of deforesting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months

*Americans pay $370 million annually to dispose of junk mail that doesn’t get reycled

*Americans throw away 44% of bulk mail unopened, yet still spend 8 months per lifetime opening junk mail

*The book 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Save The Earth listed stopping unwanted junk mail as its number 2 recommendation.

*out of 5.6 million tons of mailings generated each year, 4.3 million are thrown in the garbage; 340,000 garbage trucks are needed to haul away all the junk mail that doesn't quite make it to the recycling bin.